The one whose back would never break
by congresscrab
Summary: Kamina, after his unfortunate 'accident', gets summoned to be Louise's familiar. Naturally, the Dai-Gurren Brigade's badass leader does not take this very well and although he stays at the Academy, he doesn t get bound as a familiar. Of course, as he tries to find a way back home, he inevitably punches some sense into the natives. After all, just who the hell do they think he is!
1. Chapter 1

**Good morning, noon, evening, or whatever time of day it is when you read this. Now, I'll first adress a few things. First, if you haven't watched TTGL, then don't read this. I kept Kamina's fate vague in the summary for a reason. Second, thank you for spending your time reading this! And third, if you read my other crossover and found this, congrats! You win the game! Now then, this would be the part where I answer reviews but, ya know…**

 **Let's just get straight to it! Now then…action!**

 **AN, Take two: So as you may have noticed, I haven't posted any new chapters for a while. I could chalk it up to me trying to learn how to better write a story over the last few months, but that'd be a pile of bullshit, and we all know it. While I have taken the occasional day to watch/read about writing a good story, it by no means was enough of a strain on my schedule to stop writing. So here's the thing. I almost entirely forgot my thought processes whilst writing this story, and I didn't keep any notes. To get back into the mix of things, I will go over every single chapter and update it to more suit my current style/iron out any mistakes/make it more readable. That sums everything up, so I won't keep ya. Enjoy!**

The valley, rocked by the thunderous explosions of mechas and cannonshots that laid it to waste, was suddenly silenced by two souls crying out.

„ **JUST WHO…"**

„… **IN THE HELL…"**

"… **DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!"**

The volcano overlooking the battlefield started erupting again, colouring the entire sky a bombastic red, perfectly befitting the explosive nature of the Dai-Gurren Brigade. The fire in the sky reflected off of its leader's dented mecha, the drill that would open their path to tomorrow, Gurren Lagann. Over the course of this long battle, both Gurren and Lagann had sustained quite a bit of damage, so even with the self-repairing that Gurren Lagann possessed, the wear and tear was clearly visible in the light of the eruption. You see, Gurren Lagann was a very special mech indeed; it was the result of the combining fighting spirits of a boy who had yet to become a man, and a man with an unwavering belief in his younger brother.

The biggest difference in the two mecha was their size: Gurren easily towered over any human, whilst Lagann barely reached up to an adults' chest. Then again, one would be amiss in claiming any sort of similarity between the two: Gurren was a demonic, grinning face with arms, legs, and giant swords welded together to look like its pilot's shades, yet it went without a head. Lagann, being basically a head, filled that gap. It, too, had a face on the front, however, this one looked much more humanoid than Gurren, and unlike the other, this mech did not let you enter through its mouth, but through a hatch on the top of the head. But the unlikely pair shared one common trait: their fiery red plating, oozing the fiery soul of their pilots.

Once the two Ganmen combined, they took on a more complete form; Simon, the pilot of Lagann, the smaller and smarter of the two, took the place of the head. Kamina, on the other hand, the loudmouth and leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, the one doing all the heavy lifting, took his place inside Gurren, the body of humanity's hope that was Gurren Lagann.

Their union did not just complete them, it also allowed the other to shine even more; once Lagann drilled into Gurren, the latter's limbs would grow longer and broader, and Lagann would receive the helmet of a true soldier. Even if that true soldier was currently trying to kill them to get it back. The helmet looked similar to those of samurai, with an added green light in the middle of the two adornments on its head. And what is probably the least important, their power increased – by how much, the sky itself was not even the limit (according to Kamina). However, this mighty mecha was entirely surrounded by the enemy, and even with the pilots at their current peak, the odds were bleak.

"You idiots, don't just stand around! Get them!" the enemy general yelled, pointing at them as dozens of enemy mecha jumped at them. This would be an easy battle, impossible to win by the humans. At least, that's what the general thought, grinning in his Ganmen. After all, he had split the leader's Ganmen apart from behind with his mecha's glaive, and judging from the screams, he had hit the man inside as well, likely splitting him in half. His death was imminent, and a single bewildered boy wouldn't be able to stand up to his army.

" **Get out of my way, you stupid punks!"**

And just like that, the whole army was destroyed in a flash. Gurren Lagann created dozens of drills all over its body, extending them to stab through every last of their enemies in sight. Then, all of the silver drills retracted, and every one of his lackeys went up in flames, coating the land with even more blasts and sending thunder toward the ashen sky. The last mech standing was Gurren Lagann, and even though no one on either side of the battle could tell, their leader was at his limit. His comrades were cheering for him as they resumed fighting with new vigour, and their enemy was thrown into disarray by the sudden display of strength.

Things looked up for them now, but Kamina knew this wouldn't last. He would die because of his wounds. But he would not get put out like a campfire. No, he would take that general with him, in a giant eruption of his soul. Yeah, just like that, he thought as the volcano spewed forth bright chunks of molten rock, burying an unfortunate beastman. His eyes set themselves on the general, who started panicking, the fear evident in his voice.

"S-stay back! **Condemn Glaize!** " he yelled, shooting a glowing beam from his mech's glaive racing toward Gurren Lagann with a frightening velocity. However, Kamina was not scared at all. He would not give in. Never.

"It cannot break this hand!" he shouted, smashing Gurren Lagann's palm into the light, deflecting it high into the sky, leaving no trace of damage after it dissipated. This resulted in the general's jaw slacking and his arms shaking as he stuttered out a fearful "Impossible…!" at the sight of this power. Meanwhile, Kamina felt himself starting to get dizzy. It seemed that he had lost too much blood. He kept his grin as he thought of his hot- and redheaded lover.

" _I'm sorry, Yoko. It seems like I won't be able to pay you back, like I promised."_ He thought, before addressing his little brother a few feet above him. "Simon, never forget this. Believe in yourself. Not in me, who believes in you. Not in yourself, who believes in me."

"Bro? What are you talking about…?" came the static answer from the communication system, unsure of what to make of his words.

" **Believe in you, who believes in himself.** Let's end this." He spoke with utmost confidence, even as the blood spilled from his grin. He lifted his head, and with a slight green glow in his eyes, he stared at his final opponent, who was still unable to grasp the fact that his attack and minions were but a speed bump for the mighty Kamina. Heh, as if he could even grasp what their power truly was. As long as he didn't understand the why the Dai-Gurren Brigade fought so recklessly, there was no way he would ever beat them.

" **FINISHING MOVE!"** he yelled with all the spirit that he could muster, ripping off Gurren's glasses from its face and throwing them straight at the beastman general. Still in the air, they split into two identical copies, and hit the enemy's arms and legs, making him fly into the air and effectively immobilizing him. He was stuck in a way that his shady silhouette resembled a star.

" _Heh, piercing the heavens…Simon, I'll leave that to you. But at the very least, let me borrow your drill to pierce this bastard…!"_ He thought, before coughing again, spilling more blood into Gurren. _"I should wrap this up quickly."_

He lifted Gurren's arm into the air, making all drills on the mech's body disappear, before a huge drill was formed on the hand currently pointing at the sky.

" **GIGA…"** It seemed to inflate itself by a huge margin.

" **DRILL…"** It grew again, now bigger than the mecha itself. He heaved it in front of Gurren Lagann, giving it a good spin with his free hand. His eyes were glowing more and more, now looking like a green traffic light at this point. Fitting, seeing as it was time to go. He silently thanked his little brother for letting him borrow his drill, and made the mecha leap.

" **BREAK!"** he screamed, his mind tuning out the pain and shutting off all thought processes. It only focused on carving a hole into this motherfucker. The mech seemed to disappear, being replaced by pure green energy that pushed the drill ever closer toward its destination, that destination being the star-shaped mech tied into the sky. Nay, it would go beyond him. It would not stop for him.

The drill was slightly wobbly as it shot upward, but that was to be expected. After all, Kamina had only borrowed it from his younger brother. However, when it did hit, there was no problem. It pierced through the metal plating, tearing the beastman inside to shreds, whose last, screamed words were silenced by another, weakened eruption of the volcano. Gurren Lagann landed on the ground, the drill shrinking back into its arm, and for a split second, time seemed to be standing still as the shades returned to their rightful place.

The second they did, the enemy Ganmen blew up with a loud, gigantic explosion, allowing our hero to finally let out his last, ragged breaths. He had done it. Now, the Dai-Gurren Brigade would…would…

He couldn't think straight anymore. He let go of the controls, and held up his upper body by placing his elbows on his legs to be somewhat comfortable in his death. His breathing was highly irregular now; he had but seconds to live now, so to make the most of them, he smiled as he spoke.

"…farewell...comrades…" he uttered. He vaguely heard Simon ask something, even more fearful than usual, although the meaning of his words eluded him. Everything went black. He couldn't see, let alone speak or hear anything now. He was as good as dead.

Then, all of a sudden, a tiny, squeaky voice called out. Hopefully it was just his imagination, but after the second repeat, he begrudgingly had to admit it to be real. He couldn't exactly understand what it said either, but it constantly got louder with each repeat. The one thing he did understand was the feeling of annoyance the voice created. Couldn't a man die in peace? He could at this point tell that it was a girl calling him, albeit the content of what she was saying still eluded him. Her nagging tone did nothing to make this easier.

Then, from a moment to the next, his vision turned completely green. It felt like he was falling from a ridiculous height, air blowing past him at incredible speed. Naturally, with his large wound, if it could even be called that, that hurt like hell. He nearly bit his tongue off due to the pain. Then, just as the pain got completely unbearable, he felt the fall stop. He was lying on the ground now, but not the ground he was used to. Unlike the hard, rocky soil of the wastes he wandered with his comrades, this felt...different. He couldn't tell exactly what that difference was, as his skin had gone completely numb at this point.

He heard voices cry out, and one of them seemed vaguely familiar. Oh yeah, there was that squeaky one again. Oh well. It's not like he cared all too much anyway. He let out a final, raspy breath before blacking out.

Louise Françoise la Blanc de la Vallière was in a rather foul mood today. Not only had she been unable to get a single wink of sleep the night before, but when she did manage to crawl out of bed and out of her room, she had been greeted by the person she wanted to see the least. Stupid Zerbst.

Then, after what felt like half an eternity of mockery, which she naturally reacted to with her usual cold comments, she had breakfast, thankfully without that cow continuing to follow her around, but a senior student's familiar decided that it would be a _great_ idea, nay, a _fantastic_ idea to jump right into her meal and wallow in it like a pig would in mud. Of course, after said student gave the fakest of apologies, she went back to her room to change. And of course, who else but Zerbst would decide it to be a good idea to follow her around and give her "helpful advice" to avoid being covered in soup and juice.

Having gotten used to it, she kept her composure against all odds, and entered her room silently without ever raising her voice. Like hell would she give in to this barbarian's pathetic attempts of provocation. After all, she was a daughter of the Heavy Wind, and lived by the Rule of Steel. Never give in. Never lose face. And, most important of all, _act honourably at all times, at all costs._ And so, after she got dressed again and left her dirty clothes in a basket to clean up, she checked her clock. It seems as if she still had some time before _that_ class _._ So, she did the only thing she could think of.

Studying. Both incantations were replayed as often as was humanly possible in her head, like a broken cassette tape, she didn't even need to check the textbook (which she still did, just to be absolutely certain). She got them stuck in her head months ago; saying that she'd been preparing for this a long time in advance would be an understatement. Yet, even though she was certain to be completely ready, Louise couldn't help but feel anxious. She started pacing around the room, thoughts of possible scenarios flying through her head.

" _What if I fail, just like usual? What if it just blows up, like usual?! What if the familiar I summon is…!"_ she stopped thinking and slapped her cheeks, making them go as red as her eyes. Shaking her head, she made it clear to herself that there was neither time nor use for these insecurities. Going into this, she would need confidence. And as she shot a glance at her mirror, she realized that her appearance did not match that confidence.

She had black rings under her eyes, her pink hair was messy in places, and her red pupils were surrounded by reddened eyes. This would not do. At all. She went to her desk, and opened a drawer, which contained a whip and a comb. Louise glanced at a corner of the room, in which some hay had been strewn about. Hopefully whatever sort of beast she summoned would be obedient enough that she would not need this.

After she had done her hair and covered the black rings, she put everything back where it was meant to be. The comb in the second drawer from the top, and the powder, together with the brush in the pouch on her right. She took another look at herself. Looking presentable now, she felt pleased at having managed to hide the effects of stress this good. _Never lose face._

Checking the clock, Louise realized her time was almost up. After repeating the mantra in her head, she stood up and grabbed a clean cape, sliding her wand in its pocket as she put it on. A noble should never be late for anything, including classes, obviously, so she got a move on. As she walked through the maze that was the Academy, trying to avoid any hallway that she could hear that cow Zerbst from. Weirdly enough, that included any hallway she thought of taking, as if that haughty laugh could find her anywhere to taunt her.

But in the end, Louise reached the courtyard without ever running into her arch nemesis. She spotted her teacher, a 40-ish year old, balding man who wore purple robes and a small pair of round glasses who went by the name of Jean Colbert. He was waiting for the class to show up, but as it seemed, she was the first to arrive. She made her way over to him, ignoring the sneers of her peers. When she was but a few steps away from him, he noticed her, and gave a friendly wave, though it did nothing to hide the concern his eyes were all but oozing.

Louise knew why. He had warned her many a time before. If she didn't nail this test, she was out. She needed to succeed, or she would no longer be considered a noble, no longer have a reason to live. The shame would be unbearable, let alone when facing her family. A certain person came to mind as Louise steeled herself. She could not let her down.

Despite the pressure she was under, which only got worse because of his pity for her, she actually liked Mister Colbert. He was quite understanding when it came to her… **"** **condition"** , and treated her like everyone else. And besides that, he had enough respect for her theoretical prowess when it came to magic that he allowed her to pass the first year here, even with her abysmal scores with the practical side. Although he did lack a spine, she couldn't blame him. After six months of trying to get the entire school to stop making a mockery of her, anyone would give up. Also, he always came up with really weird stuff, like explaining how one might be able to improve their spells by adhering to some weird rules.

" _Physics"_ is what he called them,his favourite to explain being the _"law of conservation of energy"_. It was odd, really, how he always seemed to come up with these bizarre theories. And yet, if kept in theory, they made sense. If you don't supply the energy of a spell all by yourself and are aided by the circumstances, i.e. you have water nearby to manipulate and don't have to create it first, then obviously you need less willpower to pull it off. Yet, due to their very weirdness, he had been denied funds repeatedly by the Royal Institute of Magical Research for practical pursuits of his ideas.

But this was irrelevant. They had a small chat about the weather before they fell silent again, awkwardness filling the air, and idle thoughts Louise's mind. Both quickly dissipated when someone started boisterously laughing as they entered the courtyard. _"Zerbst"_ , Louise thought, and she was right. The big-breasted germanian girl walked up to them, and, paying no attention to the teacher, started teasing Louise, calling her the usual names. Zero, Failure, Flattie, she'd heard them all before.

She stood fast, and soon enough, the tanned girl got bored of her stoically cold responses and returned to her friends, who made their own comments about the pink haired girl, which were just the same degrading cr- no, **Rule of Steel**. Louise calmed herself, and just waited for the rest of the students to arrive. She could feel the pitying gaze of her teacher, but ignored it. Seeing it would only worsen her mood.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Mister Colbert cleared his throat and announced that the rituals could now begin. So, everyone went in line to summon their familiar. To be frank, Louise was rather excited to see her classmates play the familiar lottery (and hopefully get absolutely horrible results). Some students got amazing familiars, such as Tabitha, a rather quiet, but brilliant girl, who got a freaking dragon (which Louise didn't mind, this girl was the only one smaller than her and didn't try to drag her reputation through the mud)! And, much to the Vallière's chagrin, her arch nemesis got a fire salamander, an animal on the brink of extinction, known for its incredible power for its size, being able to pull an adult up a mountain with little effort. Of course, there was also the fire breath. Of course Zerbst would be lucky like that. Others got familiars that were about as plain and run-of-the-mill as it got, like Montmorency, a blonde friend of Zerbst's, and she got a frog. Just a regular old frog. Nothing special about it. Even if she did put a bow on it.

Her fiancé, Guiche, also got an amazing familiar. It practically floored Montmorency after appearing, going for their engagement ring. It was a giant mole, known for their great appetite for jewelry. Now, weirdly enough, he was not disappointed or angry at his obvious misfortune in the lottery. A mole was an incredibly difficult animal to keep because of its gourmet taste, but, apparently unperturbed after getting it off his fiancée, he immediately hugged that thing and named it Verdandi at some point during the cuddling. Funnily enough, judging from that jealous look, that was more love than he'd ever shown Montmorency. It was enough to make Louise let out a small mirthful giggle, even though she knew that she would go through Hell in just a second.

"Alright, has everyone conducted the ritual yet?" asked Mister Colbert, adjusting his glasses, even though he knew the answer. "No sir, the Zero hasn't failed yet!" that blasted Zerbst yelled, making every student laugh as Louise made her way through them to the middle of the courtyard. She ignored the jeering as much as possible, and whipped out her wand. Mister Colbert nodded, and gave his okay after making everyone take a few steps back. She knew that it was just a precaution, but it still hurt.

" **Rule of Steel** _, Louise._ **Rule of Steel** _."_ She thought to herself, before waving her wand, and just starting the incantation.

" **My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! Answer to my guidance and appear!"** She cried with all her hopes, dreams, and worries laced into this spell. She heard someone make a remark about how this wasn't how the incantation actually went, and it was true. She had spun it a bit differently to suit her tastes a bit more, but the spell would still work.

Definitely.

Except that it blew up in her face, as usual.

"Man, leave it to the Zero to cause an explosion with something as simple as 'Summon Familiar'!" Zerbst yelled over the debris settling, causing everyone else to start chanting the word 'Zero' over and over again. And again. And again. She fell to her knees. Just make it stop. She held her ears shut. _"SHUT UP!"_ she screamed in her mind. Even in despair, she refused to break the **Rule of Steel**. But it wouldn't matter. She would still be married off to some low-class pig for sure now.

As she pondered just how bleak her future was, something touched her knee. It felt warm, and quite liquid. She slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils widened considerably as they took in the sight. The grass was stained with fresh blood. She looked into the dust cloud, and her jaw slacked, feeling the urge to vomit rise up. While the others were still chanting their mockeries, Mr Colbert noticed that something was amiss, and ran forward. Slowly, as the situation sunk in, they stopped chanting one by one, and once the smoke had cleared, they realized why Louise had started vomiting. Some of them did too.

"Someone get the healer over here!" Mr Colbert yelled. For in the grass right in front of Louise, was a young man with blue hair, split cleanly in half, guts spilled all over the ground. He was quickly brought to the healer's office, although no one doubted he would die soon, despite the healer's desperate work to keep him alive. Rumours soon spread that he ended up like that due to the explosion, but Louise would hear none of them in her absence. For she was by the side of her would-be familiar, day in and day out, having blacked out after she saw the man's injuries, and was promptly placed in the bed next to him. And so, nearly a week passed before one of them opened their eyes…

 **Well, that's a wrap! Let me know what you thought of it, if you would be so inclined. Anyways, don't expect this to be updated very frequently. I am in my last year of school, and I have another crossover that is far from finished. But anyway, we'll see just who woke up first in the next chapter! And this is where I say…bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back to my crossover! I won't keep you long, but…you know, reviews, man. Gotta answer 'em.**

 **Guest: Indeed. I have been waiting and waiting, and yet, no one deemed the idea great enough to actually write this. WELL, NO MORE! The mighty Kamina must appear in every single universe, spreading his glory! And so, I shall take a stand and tell his tale, the tale of when he went to Halkegenia.**

 **Well then, let's get started!**

 **AN, Take two: Chapter two, the oh-so pivotal chapter. I spent a lot of time struggling between actually changing it so the teachers think him to be insane and play along with him so he would comply with the familiar business (with Louise being the only one believing him because no one clued her in on their real thoughts), but decided to go with the route I already laid out (Though if anyone wants to get on that, it would make a bloody hilarious story). Makes reading the following chapters less jarring. Anyway, I realized that there are no alerts for updates like these, so I will take it upon myself to make sure an alert goes out. By adding, removing, and re-adding chapter 25 over and over for each update. Laugh, cringe or ridicule me all you want. It's a fantastic system. Now that that is out of the way, I won't keep you. Enjoy!**

A light shining on his face awoke the sleeping man. His vision blurry, and his mind doubly so, he struggled to make out anything in sight. He blinked a few times, tentatively, making his eye lids get used to the movement again. From the way his muscles screamed at him from moving, it should've been obvious that he'd been asleep a long time, yet he didn't, entirely focused on having his vision return. Blink by blink, he felt how he slowly regained his senses, and felt more and more relaxed as life returned to him.

He felt the soft mattress he was lying on. It was comfy. The sensation made fond memories enter his mind – of the time he and Simon (albeit with his little brother being slightly unwilling at the time (as he was for most of the things they did together) had stolen the chieftain's mattress for themselves, if only for that one night of good rest. If he recalled correctly, that was the 19th time that the chieftain had thrown him in jail. Naturally, Simon bailed him out the very next day by sacrificing his daily molepig steak, as he always did when Kamina was stuck in that hole.

He tried to move his limbs, but didn't find it in himself to do so. Barely being able to turn his head was quite uncomfortable, but the trade-off that was the pillow beneath it and having somewhat clear sight made up for it. Well, he could make out things that were an arm's length away, at least. The room was small and had stone walls, with candles lining them; they were not lit, though, so he guessed that the light he was seeing was in fact coming straight from the sun. Blinking a few more times confirmed it – the golden glow came through that hole in the wall to his right. Eventually, as the curiosity grew ever more restless, he finally managed to turn his head to the left, his eyes widening at what they found – a small wooden table, right next to his bed, and on it a big loaf of bread and an oddly shaped glass of clear water. He took note of his parched throat and empty stomach, and tried once again to force his arms to move.

Apparently food and drink was the motivation they needed, and they slowly made their way over to the table. It felt like they were going at the pace of snails, which was not too far off from the truth, actually. But eventually, after an arduous journey across the soft plain beneath him, his hand reached the edge of his bed, and without much trouble, hopped across the great Abyss separating him from Heaven. His fingers grazed the glass, and as he closed them around it, he realized his grip was too limp to even lift it. But he wouldn't let that stop him. With Herculean strength and resolve, he mustered up the energy to grip tightly and pull the glass toward him.

As his arm sagged, he realized that he'd forgotten about the abyss that was between him and Heaven. Time seemed to slow as the glass tipped over in his hand, slipping between his weak fingers. It was as if the universe was taunting him. Then, after what felt like hours, it crashed onto the floor, breaking into dozens of tiny little pieces that scattered in the puddle of water, glimmering in the sunlight like golden knives. Fingers twitching, clinging to the cold sensation the glass had left on it, eyes fixated on the loaf of bread, determination welling within, he bared his teeth at the effort it took to force his body to move.

He grabbed it, quicker now that he had managed to mentally slap his limbs awake, and dragged it across the table, making sure to remember the Abyss' existence this time. After pausing a brief second at the edge, he yanked his meal over to him in one swift motion. He wasted no time in devouring it, uncaring about the taste. Greedy bites meant to completely stuff his mouth, nearly making him choke a few times, and an impatience to swallow without chewing were quick to fill the void in his stomach. The meal left him an energetic, yet dissatisfied mess. He stretched himself, bones cracking as the crumbs from his 'prey' fell off his face.

His vision had cleared up now, so he took the chance to look around. As it appeared, he was in an infirmary or something along those lines. It felt like that fact should be significant to him, but he couldn't exactly place why that was. Hearing light breathing, he turned to find a doorway opposite the window. It was time to get out of bed, he thought, before nearly stepping right into the broken glass. He sighed in relief as he got up on the other side. That was close. Though now that he had stepped on the stone floor, he wondered just where he was. This definitely wasn't anyplace he'd seen before, and he wondered just where his comrades had gotten to. He could have sworn that they had beaten the beastmen in that battle, but after a certain point, his memory just ended. As he made his way to the door, it became clear that his legs were still fast asleep. Lazy buggers. Propping himself up against the wall as he made his way to the door turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Kamina accidentally knocked over a basket containing his sandals and shades. Putting on the former and pocketing the latter, he continued on his way, this time standing.

Entering the neighbouring room, he thought to find the person breathing and figuring out where he was. He quickly spotted her. It was a small girl, about as old as Simon if he had to guess, with bright pink hair. She was just sleeping there, in a bed that seemed _much_ more comfy than his. So, what was a man like Kamina to do when he comes upon such a scene? Quietly leave and look for someone else to help so as not to disturb a sleeping maiden?

Nope. He waltzed straight up to her bed, and poked her cheek. "Hey kid, wake up." He demanded, getting no response. He was tired, confused and hungry. Basically a regular Monday morning. And just like every Monday morning before having his cup of coffee, he was not in the mood for this. "…just who the hell do you think I am?! GET UP!" he yelled with all the might in his frail body. The girl's eyes shot open in shock as she screamed at the sudden noise. As the adrenaline subsided, she did what any reasonable person would do, and slapped him right in the face.

In his weakened state, this made Kamina stagger back, just catching himself with an arm against the wall. He stared at her, slightly miffed. "Okay, I'm sorry for waking you up like that, but that's no reason to just slap me. Geez." He said, scratching the back of his head. Noticing that she was slightly red in the face, he raised an eyebrow. Before his eardrums burst.

"Put on a shirt, you filthy commoner!" she cried, pointing at him accusingly. His ears rang with an intensity he didn't even know existed, and he held them shut instinctively, hoping to protect them from any further damage. Besides, he didn't see why she had to shout her lungs out. He was wearing his pants, and no one ever cared if he didn't wear a shirt. This girl was weird. After his ears got a bit better, he tentatively began speaking again, trying to change the topic before she yelled again.

"It doesn't matter, now does it, pinky? Anyway, I want to ask you something. Just where-" he was cut off by another tirade, but at least this time, he was prepared, his ears covered. This time, instead of having a bomb explode in them, it only felt like his ear drums were poked with a flaming metal rod.

"Pinky?! I'll have you know that I am a Vallière, the most prestigious family in all of Tristain, second only to the Royal Family itself! How dare you call me names, peasant! Apologize this instant!" she demanded, pointing at him yet again with that horribly stuck-up and offended expression. His eyebrows twitched, usually a sign that he was about to punch whoever was pissing him off. He was sick of this brat already, and it had barely been half a minute since he woke her. However, he had promised his little brother to be more polite to people after the incident in Dekosuke's village, so he kept his cool as best he could. Yoko told him to imagine people in their underwear if he needed to cool down (ironic that it came from her of all people), but it didn't work this time. Immediately after trying, he stopped; because he realized that this girl was probably just over eleven or twelve years old, judging from her height. Or, if he went by breast size, eight to nine, if Yoko was a good standard (as he would later find out, she wasn't). Looks like he'd have to deal with his frustration the old-fashioned way. Bottle it up in his fist until someone looked for a fight.

"Alright then, then what should I call you?" he asked, his voice strained from holding himself back. Though she was too busy answering his question as arrogantly as possible to notice the seething glare hidden beneath his dark blue hair.

"Hmph! You may call me Mistress Vallière, commoner. Remember that name!" she declared, proudly puffing out her chest. This girl was having way too much fun by just introducing herself. It was almost like every time she did, her ego grew. Even though by the looks of it, that is probably the one thing she shouldn't have to worry about growing. Sighing, he continued his questioning.

"Alright then, _Mistress Vallière,_ could you tell me where I am? And where are my comrades from the Dai-Gurren Brigade?" he inquired, making the girl raise her eyebrows in turn.

"You are at the Academy of Magic, in Tristain. And I have never heard of anything called the Dai-Gurren Brigade. Are they mercenaries or something?" she answered, earning a deafening response. Like him, she too held her ears shut.

"What do you mean 'I've never heard of the Dai-Gurren Brigade!? Then dig the wax out of your ears and listen!" he shouted with vigour unbefitting of his poor physical state. An arm pointing to the heavens, the other on his hip, and the look of pure confidence on his face – if the girl hadn't known any better, she might've actually thought him to be a king or at least a noble of her standing. "The Dai-Gurren Brigade's reputation echoes far and wide, tales of their courage spurning others to heroism! When they talk about its tenacious leader, the one with the blazing soul of a demon, then they are talking about me! The mighty Kamina!" he yelled, easily loud enough to be heard all throughout the Academy.

The girl just gawked at the sheer hubris on full display. How could he spout such lies with this sort of confidence? Like a brewing storm, she grumbled and was about to teach him his place, when the sound of the door opening followed by a gasp caught their attention. In the door stood another girl, with short black hair and a black maid's outfit with a white apron. In her hands was a tray filled to the brim with food, and a can of tea. She was staring in shock at Kamina, possibly because he actually woke up. Everyone had thought him a dead man, and yet here he was, defying the odds. That or it just was her admiring his abs.

"Sir, you shouldn't be up! You still haven't recovered!" she cried, rushing over to the girl first to put down the tray, then dragged the man back into the other room, all the while ignoring his protests. She put him back into bed, and asked him to wait but a few minutes for her to get a teacher and some food. After seeing her sincerity, he reluctantly agreed to remain in bed a while longer. He was just glad that she had noticed the glass shards on the floor and had not just run the both of them into the mess. That might have ended badly. Besides, it was much easier for him to obey someone who was not a brattish child and promised him food if he did.

There was a fine line between pride and arrogance, and boy did 'Mistress Vallière' cross it. The maid bowed to the 'Mistress' before leaving, promising to back as fast as possible, something she was thanked for with a childish huff. And so, the two waited, separated in their rooms, and to be fair, they both liked it much better than the conversation they had earlier. This was much less stressful on their ears and temper. A while later, two men entered. The girl immediately recognized them, seeing as she _did_ kind of live here. One of them was her teacher, Jean Colbert. However, the other was someone of far higher power, standing, and age.

It was the Academy's overseer, an old man in the winter of life, his snow white hair and long beard representing his status among the aristocracy – for it was truly rare to reach the age where your hair loses its colour. Usually, you would either die because of someone being envious of your influential position, or had the bad luck to run into bandits that were smart. Alternatively, you lost credibility by unnecessarily dining with germanians. That, coupled with the man's calm demeanour and the way he treated people, respectfully, yet commanding respect himself, made both aristocrats and commoners hold him in high regard. He went by the name Old Osmond, though some call him differently at times, as he had an appearance similar to that of another wizard, a wizard that was part of a story beloved by many.

That, and the fact that he always jokingly told students to stop running in the hallways by blocking their path and shouting "You shall not pass!" in very reference to that wizard led to the nickname of Osmond the Grey, often used by commoners in jest. Some rather arrogant noblemen that once came to visit the Academy believed this to be degrading to the respect the plebeians owe to their titles, as by joking about the highest authority present meant, by extension, a mockery of their titles in their view. The commoners were to be punished at once. The man's response was to forbid those people from ever entering the Academy again, a just result in Louise's eyes. Seeking punishment against the commoners for jokes (that were not even directed at them) would destroy morale and would, frankly, be nothing more than sadism. A bunch of troublemakers was what those nobles were. They were unworthy of their title. Unlike the honourable overseer of the Academy, truly, a man of **Steel**.

And this very man was now sitting in a chair next to her bed, calmly petting his familiar, a small brown mouse that he named Chuchu. Although there were rumours about Chuchu being an undiscovered species, possibly from the far east, Osmond dismissed those claims as rubbish, and since it was but a familiar, no one cared all too much about it. Mr Colbert cleared his throat to get her attention, right as the door shut behind the maid currently re-entering the room with a large tray, filled with the leftovers from breakfast, it seemed. Although no one would be able to tell the leftovers from a gourmet meal, as the chef was an absolute genius. Yet, the fact that there was even more on this plate than hers was quite irritating.

Huffing as the girl passed, Louise directed her attention toward her teacher. As they began their talk, the maid disappeared into the next room, and judging from the cheering coming through the door, the commoner was pleased by the amount of food being brought to him. Hearing him scarfing it down like a ravenous predator, the mages attempted to have a conversation, but simply couldn't. How on earth did he even manage to imitate the sound of breaking bones anyway? There were no drumsticks on his tray! Following the various distracting noises that ranged from falling tree to filling the wine glass, they heard him asking for more. Sure enough, the maid came out a second later with an empty tray, a nervous look in her eyes. Possibly because there might not be any left overs…left over.

Sighing, Mr Colbert decided to go over to the next room and ask him to join the conversation, seeing as he was right at the centre of it anyways. As he entered through the doorway, he went to cast a translation spell, but his slightly sluggish mind reminded him that he'd already done so earlier that day, when the healer had brought him and Osmond in to tell them of his survival. Sighing, the teacher adjusted his glasses. It wasn't like him to forget something as simple as that. He should really try and get some good rest during the night, he thought to himself as he addressed the elephant (might as well be, with how much the man had eaten in the last few minutes) in the room. "Sir, how about you join us? I am sure you have many questions, and besides, we would like to know more about your…situation when you entered." He explained, to which Kamina agreed. Being rejuvenated by his meal just now, he felt like a fish in water, like he could deal with anything!

When entering the room, he and 'Mistress Vallière' exchanged glares. He proceeded to reject sitting down close to her and instead tactically picked the wall furthest away from her to lean against. Seeing this level of animosity between the two worried Colbert, a worry he tried to disguise by coughing; with the wonderful side effect of drawing their attention away from each other and onto him. "Has Miss Vallière told you anything about this place yet, sir?" he asked. Kamina responded as energetically as always.

"First off, you can just call me Kamina. Don't bother with all that 'sir' crap. Second, yes, _Mistress Vallière_ has told me that I'm in an Academy of Magic, in Tristain, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean." He answered whilst spinning a finger close to his head, with a look in his eyes that screamed _"This one's crazy!"_ The others could only muster astonished stares to go with their slacked jaws at the open disdain behind the words 'Mistress Vallière', his apparent lack of knowledge and his blatant insolence. Just how buffoonish was this man? Upon seeing their expressions, he raised an eyebrow.

"What? Is there a fly on my face or something?" he asked, shaking them out of their stupor as he began slapping his cheeks and asking whether he got it. Coughing, the bald teacher once again attempted to converse with the man, if he could even understand his words. Colbert could only hope.

"No, nothing like that. It's simply odd that you did not know of the Kingdom of Tristain. It _is_ common knowledge. Anyways, an Academy is a place of learning, somewhere where you study and learn about the world." Like a tutor for children, he tried to explain the most basic of things to the man, who in response took a minute to process them, then, with an _"Aha!"_ sort of expression, said he got it. Thank goodness. Colbert sighed in relief; at least the man before him had a functioning brain. Continuing, he noted Osmond's chuckles at his misfortune. "Now, if I may, could you tell us what happened to you before you were summoned? You nearly died, had it not been for the healer's hard work. She was in this room for four days straight trying to fix you, for Founder's sake!" His slight outburst might have been unwarranted, as it caused Kamina to do a double take. Before the teacher could apologize, though, he got his response.

"Just what are you talking about? Summoning? Didn't the Dai-Gurren Brigade bring me here after our battle? And besides, where isthat giant Ganmen we got? Simon _did_ take control of it, after all." He rebuked, before being shut up by the men's pitiful, yet shocked stares. It began to dawn on him that his lacking memory might be coming back to bite him in the ass.

"You…don't remember?" Colbert asked nervously, shooting his superior a glance, who was also wearing a worried expression. Yep, there it is. That feeling that his entire world was about to break apart. The girl was simply looking at her teachers, confused at all the tip-toeing around the subject. Her eyes widened as her own memory caught up to her. Her head spun around faster than light as she started stuttering incoherently, too many problems to process at once. Osmond put a hand on her shoulder to calm her, which even had the nice side effect of making her pipe down. Yet, her jaw was still slacked, meaning there was something to do with him that completely gobsmacked her. And judging from the situation, it wasn't his abs. He had a bad feeling about all of this. Actually, now that he thought of it, the sun was out. Where were the Ganmen that should be up and about at this time of day?

"Kamina, I'm afraid that we've never heard of the Dai-Gurren Brigade." The girl's eyes widened before instinctively holding her ears shut and bracing for the pain. "You see, it was because of Miss Vallière's 'Summon Familiar' spell that you were brought here. Alone." It was now that she realized, with a bashful expression, that Kamina didn't actually try to deliver a speech, and took her hands off her ears. "However, there were…complications with the summoning. There is no easy way to put this. You were split in two. That is why we brought you here, so the healer could work her magic and stitch you back together." He continued on and on about the circumstances of his operation, but Kamina had already stopped listening, his mind being stuck with sudden flashes of his death.

The battle, the pep-talk he gave Simon, and that sucker-punch from behind. It all came back to him, yet he lingered on that attack the longest. Yoko had asked him to take care of himself out there, and what did his stupid ass do? Ignored her warnings. Now look at him; a big red line, right there, above his waist. Seeing it made the rest of his memories flood into his head – the final combining of Gurren and Lagann, the Giga Drill Break…and the voice that called out to him. Colbert noticed that he was looking at his scar, and explained that if he wished, they could remove it entirely, but Kamina shook his head.

"No. This happened because of my mistake. I will keep it." Upon hearing the grave tone he was speaking with, the teacher immediately moved on from the subject. He knew that feeling all too well. "Anyways, you said that I was her 'familiar', right? What exactly does that mean?" He spoke, pointing at the girl in question, who trembled a little at his tense tone. Rage, fear, and the tiniest shred of hope swung with it. As if he were a dog, hurt and backed into a corner, trying to find a way out of his misery. Colbert, bless his soul, attempted to calm the tension with a cheerful explanation.

"Oh, not to worry. It's a very simple concept, and a basic part of our curriculum. At the start of their second year, the students prove their progress by conducting a short ritual. The spell chooses a being most suited to the summoner, and brings them together. Any being can be summoned – be it a bird from the East or a dragon – it could even be the student's pet cat they left home." He explained enthusiastically, yet it did nothing to quell Kamina's feelings. The core of his question remained unanswered. Seeing that his attempt fell on deaf ears, Colbert sighed, and spoke honestly. "After summoning their familiar, the mage then casts another spell, 'Contract Familiar', to bind the familiar to them. As a sign of their status, runes are engraved onto the familiar, granting them and their master various benefits." The man's eyes said it all. There was still something left to answer. This would not be pretty, and the teachers both knew it, and dreaded the fallout. "A familiar is bound to their master until death does them part." Silence reigned for a good minute. Kamina, accepting that the men had finally told him everything, spoke. And immediately after, the men already knew to cover their ears.

"I refuse. I must get back to the Brigade." He had almost forgotten that there was still a bomb capable of destroying his ear drums sitting in that bed.

"What do you mean, "I refuse"?! We have no choice! I don't like this either, but I cannot summon another familiar, lest I get pursued by the church! Besides, using the spell again would mean killing you! What good would that do us?!" Louise screeched – granted, not the best idea to get her point across, but her nerves were blank at this point, the realization that this man would be part of her daily life from now on pushing her towards the edge more than Zerbst's petty provocations ever could. This buffoon, this untempered muscle head, this **dog** was her familiar, the being that the Founder had chosen to bestow upon her. It was the worst punch in the gut yet. Him opening his mouth managed to make it even worse.

"If all you can do is scream at me, you may as well shut your mouth! I don't have time for this! My brother needs my help to reclaim the surface, and the way I see it, he needs it more than you ever could!" He yelled in response, and before the girl could form a rebuttal, Colbert interjected, his superior still observing the situation calmly, yet with a tighter grip on his staff.

"Enough! Calm down, the both of you! Yelling at each other will only waste time we could use to solve these problems." The teacher spoke with strict conviction, and granted, it did make Louise shrink back a little into her pillows, but it didn't do anything to relax Kamina's frustrated features. Trying his best to remain diplomatic, Colbert tried to find some way to ground the two parties onto the same level. "Kamina, tell me, what do you mean by 'reclaiming the surface' and 'Ganmen'?" Easing his tone helped easing the tension, and the man was happy to explain his dire need to return to his comrades – humanity was under oppression, by the beastmen in their giant Ganmen, and the only form of resistance was under his leadership – the Dai-Gurren Brigade. The teachers shot each other a look, thinking of the same two possibilities. Either this man was completely nuts, or their idea of magic was limited in its view. As academics, they chose option 2. "I am afraid that return might not even be an option."

"If you mean the whole familiar thing, I already said-" Raising a hand to silence him, Colbert continued.

"No, it is a physical impossibility, as the world you speak of is entirely unfamiliar to us. We don't even know if it exists, much less how to return you there." Shocked, the Brigade's leader remained silent, mouth agape, simply staring at the trio, as if waiting for them to burst out laughing and telling him where everyone was. It became obvious that it wouldn't happen rather quickly.

"…you're not lying, are you…?"

He got the answer to his defeated muttering when the other men shook their heads. Looking elsewhere for help, his eyes fell on the window in his room through which the sun shone in all its setting golden glory. And with its golden rays burned his last bridge home. His knees gave way. Colbert rushed over to help him up, but was surprised to find the man's hand not stretched toward him, but instead the sun. "These are not the heavens I know." He muttered to himself, his hand's shadow covering most of his features, besides a noticeable smile.

"What do you mean?" The hand balled up into a fist.

"The sun I know is much smaller. Where I'm from, my fist could cover it if I held it in front of it. But this one is much larger. Even when I try, I can't help but see it. Send me back." He demanded, eyes filled with steely determination, even though he knew the answer.

"As I said, it's impossible. No safe teleportation spell exists for living beings, and we wouldn't know where to send you anyway. On top of that, if we tried to send you to one of the infinite stars in the sky, not even with the help of every mage in the world would there be enough willpower to do it." With every word Colbert spoke, Kamina's fist trembled a little more, and his smile grew a little wider. Louise couldn't make sense of this man. His hopes of return were being crushed, so why was he looking happier with every second that went by?

"If you need willpower, take mine. I've got plenty to spare." He added as a last spark of hope, but it was crushed instantly, adding more fuel to the fire in his soul.

"Willpower is the term we use for magic capability." His tears continued to fall to the ground, one by one. Finally, he stood up, a grin on his face, determination in his eyes, and confidence in his voice.

"I'll do it." He said, confusing the mages at first. Louise was the first to speak up, this time with uncertainty and hope in her voice (which was thankfully quiet this time).

"You mean you'll become my familiar?"

"Of course. I can be your familiar, no problem. Until I find a way back."

"A way back? We just got done establishing it to be impossible!" She said, yet it was no match for his indomitable will.

"Ha! That's our speciality! We do the impossible, see the invisible, touch the untouchable and break the unbreakable! That's how the Dai-Gurren Brigade rolls! If a dozen men can find a way to defeat an army and its leader, then one man can find a way home!" Silence. "You don't believe me, do you?" Nods all round. "You don't think I can handle being a familiar either, right?" As if time were looping, nods all round. "Ha! The mighty Kamina, incapable of being a familiar?" He whipped out his shades.

"Just who the hell do you think I am?!"

 **And so it begins…will Kamina be able to handle the tsun? Or will he lose his mind before he gets back? Who knows? Well, I do, but that's beside the point. Review if you can be bothered; regardless, I'll be seeing you next time. Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**And so it continues…Review time!**

 **Guest: Well, obviously he'll fight Guiche soon enough. But if he gives him the teeth-gritter this early…probably not. As for Mont, I am quite sure you meant the Count Mott, yes? That guy will get his shit pushed in so far that he'll have a better mustache coming from his nose.**

 **Guest(again): As written later in this chapter, no.**

 **Here we go!**

 **A/N, take two: You'll notice that this chapter is a lot longer. Like, A LOT longer. That's because I have basically redone the whole thing. I kept the skeleton but replaced its innards, so to speak. Hope that makes it more legible. As for the crazy shit I thought of during this one, I actually included most of it. It's not story or character-changing, but it does a) make the exposition more digestible, b) make the conversations more natural, c) I take the bathhouse episode a little more under consideration when writing this. That includes both the punchline as well as the actual punch. Finally, d) well, I'll let this part be a surprise. Hint: you'll either love or hate it (but you'll agree that it's better before, where there was basically nothing in terms of this craziness for that part of the story).**

 **Anyway, considering I had an absolute blast writing it, I hope you have fun reading take two of chapter three!**

Nope. He couldn't handle it. Being a familiar was too damn boring. Kamina had expected to be fighting at the very least, but _no,_ that would be _barbaric_. Louise had, once brought to her room, demanded that he wash her clothes. At first, she was met with resistance fiercer than an iron wall, but eventually, she found a crack. *grumble* There it was again. _"Damn you, stomach."_ He mumbled beneath his breath. Why would those geezers think it would be a good idea to let her decide whether he got to eat or not?! _"Master's rights my ass."_ As much as he hated it, here he was now, basket in hand, trying to find his way through the maze that was the school to the servant's quarters, where, according to Louise, he'd find help with this _wonderful_ job.

The pale light of the moon barely did anything to illuminate the hallway. Good thing the Academy had installed all these lanterns; else he wouldn't be able to see all these identical doors lining all these identical hallways. At least the sounds that came from them were varied, ranging from quiet scribbling, to bubbling followed by either depressed sighing or joyful cheering, to light snoring, to heavy snoring and finally, to his favourite of them all: silence. It reminded him the least of how easy the lives of these kids were. Oh yes, _Mistress Vallière_ was not an exception. Each and every one of the rooms he passed apparently housed one of these so-called "nobles". All he could do was hope that not all of them were entitled brats, but judging from the fact that there was such a thing as servants gave him a bad vibe about it. Neither did the voices softly, yet annoyingly echoing through the halls. It gave him a headache to even hear them. Just loud enough to piss him off, but quiet enough to not disturb anyone in their rooms. Turning the next corner, he found this cloud's silver lining: a staircase, going downward. Claiming his first victory over the labyrinth, he went down with a little more enthusiasm in his step.

It led to a large hall, decorated in ways he didn't even know possible. In Jeeha Village, the place he reluctantly called home, the most one could get was a table to eat and a bed to sleep on, with the few (one) exceptions (the chieftain) that got pillows for the formations dug into their hole to sit on. This place laughed at his expectations. Two empty shells of metal armour standing next to each entrance, presenting the swords, axes and spears to anyone passing by. Full-body paintings of people looking like they had a stick up their ass that were bigger than Kamina himself, and others of people that appeared relatively nice just big enough to fit their face. But the crown jewel, the greatest eye candy in the room was the fountain, its four golden fish spouting water into their silver basin – truly a sight for sore eyes after having to crawl through those stone corridors. Kamina sighed, letting the sound of the softly splashing water soothe his frustration, just a little.

The voices from earlier came from a couple standing near it, and he decided that while he was able to do the impossible and see the invisible, it might be a smart idea to ask those two for directions. Maybe they wouldn't act like annoying brats, he thought as he approached the blonde boy talking to the brunette, flamboyantly waving about a rose, as he continued to sweet-talk his sweetheart. Its crimson petals reminded our hero of Gurren, and he let the fountain hypnotise him into reminiscence. He missed the mecha already – it was basically an extension of himself, with all the tinkering he made Leeron *shiver* do with it. He missed the vibrations he felt with every step of the giant robot. He missed ploughing through the wastes without care, not stopping for anything, be it a mountain or a horde of beastmen. Hoping the war against them would go alright, he thought of Simon. What was his reaction to his vanishing act? Would he manage to cope?

"Hey, watch out!" Whoops. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice that he almost walked right into the couple, and knocked all three of them into the water. Good thing he managed to catch himself before it came to that. Apparently, he was alone with that. "Leave us at once, commoner! Or would you prefer to pay the price for sullying this maiden's eyes?" The boy ordered, instantly worsening Kamina's mood. Who cared if he only had pants on? Ugh, now he knew why those particular paintings were so big. Because having a stick up your ass is apparently something good in this world. Doing his best to not snap at them, he apologized and tried to keep this interaction as short as possible.

"Sorry. I just came over to ask where the servants' quarters are." Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the boy would let go so easily. Much to his annoyance.

"Say, might it be that you were so taken in by the fountain that you almost ran into us? Why, if something like that can floor you, just what kind of barbarian would that make you?" The girl piped up, demanding her boy's attention and basically cutting Kamina from the conversation.

"The lowest of peasant in Germania!" The two shared a round of laughter that was so forced, yet entirely sincere in its haughtiness. It weirded Kamina out so much that it almost made him forget the angry disappointment. From now on, no more hoping with these children. This was more disgusting than eating the burnt corpses of the 17-part-Ganmen crew. And the only thing that kept him going through _that_ disaster was his hunger. God, he had enough of this already.

"Truly befitting of the Zero!"

"Answer my damn question already!" The two seemed briefly scared of his sudden outburst, but quickly regained their composure, as well as their holier-than-thou expression. Wait. They were sitting and smaller than him, but…were they trying to turn their noses up at him? From down there?

"Hmph. I'll overlook your tone this time, barbarian. Go down that hallway, turn right at the second turn, then cross the courtyard. Now begone, lest I change my mind." The boy spoke, returning to his conversation.

" _Please do, prick."_ Kamina thought to himself as he left, pondering whether he should overlook that nasty tone himself. Not like there was anything stopping him…except Louise's power to withhold his meals. On second thought, it was a bad idea. Turning the corner, he felt a slight breeze, signalling he was close to the exit of this maze. Perfect. Some fresh air would do him some good, he thought, at least as good as the maid earlier was for his eyes. The uniform hugging her curves did him quite a few favours in that regard. Good thing Yoko wasn't here. She'd give him a proper beating if she knew what he was thinking. Turning the corner, he learned that fate wanted him to know it was watching – after all, he did run into a servant, quite literally in fact. Unfortunately for him, as he didn't exactly want to lose any sleep over a loud ringing in his ears, he made sure that the basket didn't tip over, at the expense of his head banging against the stone floor. Groaning, his pounding head was only aided by the fact this whole ordeal would be over in just a minute.

Standing up, he was surprised to see the maid that had brought him food earlier that day on her bottom. Damn, those were some nice legs. Smiling, he went to help her up. Before slipping on a sock that had fallen out. A yelp later, he was asked whether he was okay. "Never been better." He grumbled, barely audible with his head stuck in laundry. Once he'd pushed himself up and finally gotten to help the maid up, she asked what he was doing up already. His answer that he was Louise's familiar now and he needed help with the laundry elicited a sad nod from her. His confusion was cut short by her tugging at the basket, saying she'd deliver it back to Louise's room when she was done.

Kamina could and would not let this stand. He had his principles, after all, and carrying the basket was the least he could do. After all, this was the one person who had actually cared about him enough to bring him food. It was more than enough for him to consider her a comrade in this world. He would treat her like she was a member of the Dai-Gurren Brigade. That, and he was looking for any excuse to stay with the maid a little longer. He _really_ didn't want to see Louise at the moment. Maybe for another thousand-ish moments. After seeing how stubborn he was about it, the maid reluctantly let him come with her, leading him into a large courtyard.

Tables were distributed all over the place, neatly tidied up. Along the huge stone wall encasing the court were vines, barely reaching higher than Kamina's knee, as if they didn't even try to grow. Next to one of the few towers looming over the Academy, a hedge blocked the view into the corner beside it – it appeared to have been recently trimmed, however it wasn't enough to allow anyone to see past its green leaves, except for a single opening close to the tower's side. She took him toward that very entrance. What he found within was almost an oasis of sorts – a small river flowing by, water as clear as diamonds, a dozen buckets lying about, there was even a tree bearing some of those sweet balls he'd eaten earlier. He had never seen such a peaceful and lush place before. As it turned out, the servants had dubbed it the "washing corner". While the maid washed the clothes, he passed the time by learning about this new world. He'd be staying for a while after all, better know what he was getting into.

With every question, he understood it a little better; though finding out the reasons behind its society served only to make him hate it more. Everything revolved around a powerful mage that lived 5000 years ago, Brimir or the Founder for those that wanted to suck up to a dead man. He was so very powerful and wise, he could apparently influence a woman to create life…without ever even laying a finger on her. According to the maid, he could also keep the ones he cared about from dying. Of course, with his incredible prowess, it was easy for him to conquer half the world and establish himself as basically God. After doing so, he founded so-called "countries" for his people to live in. Why that was needed, Kamina didn't know. It's dirt. Just grab a rock and smash it until you can live in it. What's the point of "countries"? Whatever it was, it certainly didn't stop him from dying (Ironic, knowing how he could keep others from death, but not himself), meaning he had to give the power to rule over these "countries" to his children.

And man, did Brimir not touch many women, because the three Royal families are his direct descendants, even if they were a lot weaker. Because of this, they were much more inclined to throw off their clothes and touch each other. Every last mage at this Academy, hell, in the world was related to the Royal family. After Brimir's passing, his private possessions were distributed among the Royals, each receiving one "Holy artefact". What those were, the maid didn't know, nor was Kamina interested. His mind wanted only one more question answered: what were these countries called, and where were they on the map?

Of course, it surprised her to hear him ask that, but a quick explanation seemingly spurred her to answer enthusiastically. To the west lay the mighty Gallia, to the south the home of the Pope, Romania, and beyond the clouds the floating landmass Albion. There was another nation, yet she made it clear that it didn't belong to the Royal trio, Germania was run by an Emperor. It was at this point that everything started to weigh on the man's mind a little too much. Royals, Popes, Emperors, what the hell was even the difference?! The only thing keeping him from screaming to the heavens was the idea of flying land. He made a mental note to definitely go to Albion at some point.

However, it seemed like his mind couldn't rest easy just yet, as it had to understand even _more_. There were creatures called "elves", which were the enemy of mankind. His immediate response was to compare them to the beastmen. His fears were quelled, however: elves looked just like humans, but their one decisive difference lay in the shape of their ears. Elves had pointy, long ears, and could supposedly cast magic without a wand.

Speaking of magic, that was, according to the maid, passed down in the blood. Which is why all the Royals and the children at the Academy could use magic, and were dubbed nobles, in accordance with the church's teachings, enforced everywhere besides Germania. The people without the luck of being born into the Founder's bloodline, dubbed commoners, served the nobles, and in turn, the aristocrats ensured the safety of the commoners. But with power comes greed for more, and human empathy gets thrown out the window. The aristocrats oftentimes abuse the commoners, with absurdly high taxes (whatever that was), forcing servants that suited their tastes into their employment so they could have their way with them, and sometimes, just outright pillaging the villages they ruled over, later blaming it on bandits.

There were few who didn't engage in these diabolical acts, and those that had the decency to do so were held in very high regard by commoners. Thankfully, as the maid explained, Old Osmond was one of them, ( also known as the old guy sitting in the room when he was informed of his delayed rendezvous with death). He would have gone on, but as he turned his gaze from the starry sky to the maid, he realized she'd been lying down as well, staring upward. The basket was sitting at the river's bench, its contents dried. Now that he thought about it, they had been here a while, hadn't they? Last he saw her washing anything, the sun was still up, if barely. After they got up and dusted themselves off, he decided that it'd be rude to not ask the most basic of questions.

"Say, what's your name? I kinda forgot to ask." He said with a sheepish expression.

"It's Siesta. Siesta of Tarbes." She answered with a warm smile. "Now, if I may ask, what is your name, sir?" The sheepishness vanished from his face, immediately replaced by his vigorous and confident grin as well as him striking his signature pose.

"The Dai-Gurren Brigade's heroic tale spreads like a wildfire, into the deepest reaches of the land! Their blood, boiling with passion, is an inspiration for all mankind! And their great leader, the man with magma for blood, that is me! The mighty Kamina!" For a minute, both he and Siesta were completely still. The ice was so thick, even the grass seemed to have stopped growing. All she did was stare at him with wide eyes, blinking every so often. He felt a little silly, he had to admit. Just as the thought crossed his mind, she started giggling. Quite silly indeed. After a while, it turned into full blown laughter. Very silly. At least she had the decency to not insult him while doing it. The question she asked, though, was a pretty good substitute.

"Do you always introduce yourself like that?" She could barely muster the self-control needed to supress her giggles long enough to ask. So Kamina rewarded her simple question with an even simpler answer.

"Yep."

Another round of silence. Every second that went by with her staring at him with that surprised look made him feel ever sillier. Right as he was about to try and break that sheet of ice, she smiled warmly and did it for him.

"Thank you. It's nice to see someone that is brave enough to not hide his self from others. It's refreshing." To say it caught him off-guard would be an understatement. It was his turn to stare now, being at an utter loss as to what to do. "Um…are you okay? You look a little out of it."

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," he stuttered, "just a bit surprised is all." As much as he was enjoying himself, it might be time for the two to split ways. He heard a voice calling for Siesta from the other end of the courtyard.

"Coming!" She yelled back, before giving him a wave and running off. He reciprocated the gesture then went to pick up Louise's basket. However, the night had one last surprise for him. As his hands closed around the basket, it leapt out of the clothes and scuttled off into the darkness of the hedge, in the direction Siesta took off in. It was not a small critter, either. It was as big as the container it jumped from. How it managed to hide in there without spilling any clothes was a mystery, but not the one on Kamina's mind right now. His focus was entirely on the fact that that little shit had spilled stockings, panties and blouses everywhere. At least none of them landed in the river. After collecting them all, he realized that there was another mystery afoot, one so great it'd rob him of many hours of sleep tonight.

"Just where did I come from again?"

To hell with this place. All these hallways looked exactly the same. The only reason he could distinguish Louise's room from the others was because there was a door with a weird knob right next to hers, and even then it took him forever to find. Speaking of the ornate door, he heard some…questionable sounds as he passed it. Doing his best to ignore the image those noises created, he quickly opened the door to Louise's room and all but jumped inside. Ah, the sweet relief of silence. Knowing that he was probably about to get a mouthful, he braced his ears, but was pleasantly surprised to hear only light breathing. Louise had her nose stuck in a book, quite literally. She was sleeping, completely exhausted from what he could tell. Her hair was messy in places, her lips had a slight white glimmer to them and instead of her blouse and skirt, she was wearing a pink gown. Looks like she had wanted to wait for him to return, but couldn't quite keep herself awake long enough. He moved the hair out of her face.

Heh, she was actually cute if she kept her mouth shut. He put down the basket in the corner and picked her up from the chair she was sat in. Then, so as not to wake her, he slowly and carefully put her into her huge bed, before immediately covering her with the sheets. He looked around the room for a bed of his, but the closest thing he found was a pile of hay in the corner. Oh well, it wasn't like Leeron *shiver* gave him anything better the nights he spent in Ritona village. On his way to his 'bed', he blew out the candles on the table, being bathed in red and blue light right after. Confused, he shot a look at its source, outside the window. The curtains were open, letting in the light of the moons. Yes, moons. As in, there were two of them. A large red one, shadowed by a smaller blue counterpart. Sighing, he grabbed the white cloth, and took one last look at the heavens.

"Guess I really am no longer on Earth, huh?" he muttered to himself, feeling a strong aching in his heart. "Be strong, Simon, Yoko…" They would have to be. He couldn't help either of them, as much as it hurt him to admit. So there was only one thing to do. If these people didn't know of a way back, then he would make one himself! And the only way to do that would be to *shiver* study their rules. "Ugh." He actually vomited a little there. Great start. Guess he would have to go with Louise to her classes tomorrow. "Urgh!" Well, that was a step up from the last one. He checked whether anyone was down below and spat everything out when no one could see it. Phew. After cleaning out his mouth with a half-empty glass of milk he "found" on Louise's desk, he lied down and fell asleep in short order.

Louise awoke with a loud yawn. She hadn't slept this well for ages, much to her chagrin. It appeared that milk was still her weakness when it came to staying awake. After checking whether the drink had any effect, she, with a look of disappointment, had to admit that she was as small as ever. Reminding herself to ask for tea next time, she got out of bed. At least, she would've, had her feet not hit something unmoving. She looked down, confused, and much to her surprise found Kamina under her foot, sleeping peacefully. She sat there, thinking about what to do. Either she could thank him for putting her in bed and let his tardiness slide. Or she could berate him for being so late he had to put her in bed. No, it was important for a noble to be grateful to their familiar, lest their bond of trust be – did he drink from her glass? The girl shrieked as she went to pull on his cheek. Turns out, her tactic to wake him was extremely effective, he woke with a start, yelling in pain.

However, her plan backfired immediately after as he immediately paid her back with a slap to the cheek. "What was that for, familiar?!" she screeched, only earning his scorn.

"I should be asking you. Why would you wake me up like that, you little brat!" he retorted, making her recoil. Not in fear, but anger. No one, _no one_ called her a brat on her watch.

"Why, you…! I'll have you know that I am seventeen years old!"

"Bullshit! You look as old as my little brother, and he was only fourteen!"

That was the last straw. She got up, marched straight to her desk, and damn near pulled out one of the drawers. His eyes widened when they glimpsed what she got out of it. A black, leathery, very painful looking whip. Louise turned around, and snapped it once, to make sure she properly got her point across. Mocking her appearance meant war.

"Turn around," she spoke with severe restraint "I won't tolerate any insults, familiar." As she spoke, she saw his shocked expression, and stopped in her tracks. For the briefest of moments, she reconsidered his punishment. Was she going overboard? After all, he had just learned the day before that all he knew and loved was gone, out of his reach for the rest of his life. Perhaps she should overlook this transgression, just this once. Going through such a traumatic event could seriously mess with one's head, more so if there was nothing in it. Lowering her whip, she thought maybe, just maybe, if she showed him a little bit of pity and understanding, that he might find it within his empty head to respect her. She went to put it back in the drawer. "I have decided not to discipline you, familiar. As long as you cease disrespecting me, I won't have to use this whip." Seeing her (arguably stuck-up) peace offering, Kamina, like the master diplomat he is, continued arguing.

"Actually, if I remember this right, I am technically not yet your familiar," he said, raising his (frustratingly) rune-less hand, "I can do and say whatever I want, _Pinky_." Never mind. She had forgotten that his man wasn't human. He was nothing more than a muscle-headed dog. Louise grabbed the whip once more and reared back her arm. The air whistled as the whip cut right through it. Kamina barely managed to duck beneath it, black leather flying right past where his chest was a second ago. He gulped as she pulled back her arm, and demanded he stay still as the leather came whistling from behind. He was not going to obey, he thought as he dropped on his arm, narrowly avoiding the swing aimed at his back. He wouldn't obey today, not tomorrow, and as long as she had that whip, he would add more days onto that list.

Every hit that came his way, no matter how fast, he managed to dodge somehow, reflexes sharp from battling beastmen on an everyday basis. In turn, Louise's strikes got closer with every swing, and looked ever more painful with each one. The room was filled with the sounds of their little dance, until, eventually, Kamina collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. Thankfully, the girl was just as tired, leaning on the desk, sweat on her forehead. In their exhaustion, they signed a temporary truce with a short glance. None of them cared about why they had fought anymore, so little in fact that they had both forgotten. The man left the room at the girl's request, leaving her to get ready for the day.

Kamina had waited far longer than he should have, when she finally came out of her room. He had spent the time counting all the doors, so he had some sort of idea where hers was, yet lost count at about fifty. Sixty? Or was it thirty? When they passed a certain door, he remembered that counting was kinda pointless when there was that weirdly distinct doorknob right next to the one he wanted to remember. It was too dark yesterday to make out, but now it was as clear as the day outside. It had a stocking on it. Dumbfounded, he stared at it. Who would just put a stocking on a doorknob? He noticed Louise huffing as she saw it, muttering something about a pig in heat. Didn't do anything to make that red face any less obvious.

As he continued to stare at it, the door opened, and a tanned woman came into view. She had the same white blouse, black skirt and cape on as Louise, but unlike the pink haired banshee, her blouse was unbuttoned at the top – quite possibly because her chest was the size of actual melons. Hell, they dwarfed Yoko's! In addition, she didn't wear the small shoes like his "master", but instead long, brown boots that reached halfway up her upper thigh. Her red eyes perfectly matched her fiery red hair. If he were to guess, she was a teacher here. She looked far more mature than anyone else he'd seen so far.

"Oh, so _that's_ where I left you!" She exclaimed, casually tossing (presumably) her stocking into her dark room. Her chest jiggled all the while, making him question whether she was even wearing a bra under that blouse. She better be. Or else his urges would make his mind drift into the Yoko-will-fucking-murder-him-zone. A groan coming from _Mistress Vallière_ ahead informed him that the relationship of these two was worse than that of a cat and mouse.

"Hmph. You didn't even have the decency to clean up after yourself, Zerbst. I know you f-fornicate as much as a pig, but at least be tidier than one." Louise said, with no effort to hide her disdain when Kirche feigned hurt at the statement.

"Oh, Zero! You wound me so! And here I thought we were friends!" The busty aristocrat responded in a fashion so dramatic Kamina thought she actually had a screw loose. She actually acted like she was about to faint, hand on her face, staggering about a little. "Just because men think of you like they would a rock doesn't mean you have to take it out on me!"

"As if I would want to be l-lusted after like a…a…"

"A what, Zero? Can't come up with anything bad to say?"

"Like…like…"

"Thought so. After all, you should know full well how lovely it is to…" the tanned woman snuck up to Kamina and ran her hands over his toned chest before whispering " _fornicate_. _"_ into his ear, just loud enough for Louise to hear and nearly have her face explode from having too much blood pumped into it. The man could hardly tell which emotion was about to make her burst – blank fury or utter embarrassment. Giggling, Zerbst went on in her (successful) attempts at taunting Louise, who did her very best to ignore her.

"Hands off my familiar, Zerbst. I don't recall allowing you to touch him."

"Oh, so now I need your permission to touch this prime specimen? My, oh my, Vallière, sounds like the rumours really are true." Still, she let go at least, even if the mockeries went on.

"What rumours?" Kamina interjected against his better judgement, much to his "master's" dismay. Zerbst was all too happy to answer whilst annoyingly going back to pressing herself onto him.

"Well, I think it's better if I ask you directly, _darling_. She is paying you off, right?"

" _What was that, Zerbst?"_

Well, Kamina just learned why there aint no hell like a woman's wrath. That had more venom in it than a bloody cobra! Every word was uttered slowly through gritted teeth and tense features, pressing them into the most disgusted sentence ever to reach his ears. And yet, Kirche was overjoyed at the moment, pushing even further.

"Let's be honest, Zero, this man cannot possibly be your familiar. Why would the Founder hand this fine specimen to you instead of me? I could get so much more mileage out of him than you ever could." she enjoyed Louise's completely red face as if it were fine wine, licking her lips as she snuggled up closer to him. Eventually, Kamina thought that enough was enough, and pushed her away. He was not one to hit a woman, but she was pushing it. Besides, he still had some leftover anger from her question.

"Don't insult me! As if I'd pretend to be _her_ familiar! Nothing, _nothing_ would be enough of a price to make me do that!" He had his pride, after all, and nothing could and would make him act like he was this girl's slave. Following Louise's groan was a haughty laugh from her arch nemesis.

"So this is the bond between the Zero and her familiar! Oh, how lovely! You make such a beautiful pair! Isn't that right, Flame?" The two turned around and jumped as a large red lizard came into view. Zerbst pat its head affectionately, and in turn, it snuggled into her leg like a cat. "Flame is such a good boy. He does anything I ask," Kamina could _hear_ the girl behind him seething as she stared at this thing "like grabbing a ." The lizard spat out a pink bra that Kamina couldn't help but feel to have seen before.

"Zerbst! When did you steal it?!" It clicked. This explained the shadow in the basket yesterday evening. His blood began to boil. Were there no good people in this world besides Siesta?

"Me? Steal? Don't be silly, Zero. Flame had something bad to eat, so he needed something to clean up the mess. Besides, look at you. You don't need a bra anyway." All this was said with a matter-of-fact attitude and smile, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Kamina clenched his fist. He was _this_ close to actually punching this woman. Say what you will about his "master", but this went too far. If she told him to beat the shit out of these two, he'd happily oblige. If she didn't, he'd happily disobey.

"Familiar. We are leaving." Louise said quietly. Shocked, he turned around to see her already marching ahead, trembling. She, too, had her fists clenched. Was she just going to leave her underwear on the ground? Did she have no guts whatsoever? Fine, he'd do this on his own then. Someone like this Zerbst needed a good punching. As he went to face the woman once more, he caught a glance at Louise's hands again. They were bleeding. Another click in his head. She couldn't afford to have him teach her arch nemesis a lesson. If he did, even if it was at her command or not, she would probably get publicly humiliated. This world was absolutely fucked. He grumbled. Stupidly enough, doing nothing would be better for Louise. Perhaps it was some sort of pity that made him rethink this situation. Still, he went to pick up her stained bra and hid it in his pants' pocket. Making a mental note to ask Siesta to wash both the bra and his pants later, he turned to follow the girl.

"Say, why don't you just drop the act?" Okay, that's it. She wanted to fight so badly? Fine. He didn't need his fists to break her.

"You know, you have the same hair colour as my girlfriend." He said, making Kirche cross her arms beneath her breasts and smirk seductively.

"Oho? Do I now? Well, how about I take her place for a night? In exchange, you tell everyone the truth. I'm sure these" she pushed her chest up "are much better payment than whatever the Zero is offering." Kamina grinned back in response.

"No. You see, there is this thing called 'respect'. It's the foundation of being a decent human being. And I would never consider dating someone that needs to be reminded it exists. Much less have sex with them." He was already having a blast. Tearing down the bloated egos of assholes that were way too full of themselves by telling them the word "No" was one of his favourite things to do. Going on, he went to ending this woman's entire day. "Besides, didn't you know? Having a fat ass like yours would only slow me down in battle." He then left the baffled Zerbst standing there, mouth agape, without ever looking back.

He quickly caught up to Louise, who'd noticed that he wasn't following, and had overheard the exchange after turning back. Her mind found itself infatuated with the thought that she, through her familiar, had gotten one up on Zerbst, so much so that the germanian was frozen in shock. As rude, brash and stupid as Kamina was, he had the guts to stand up to a noble despite lacking any magical capability (even if it was his duty to defend her as her familiar). And she could respect that. Perhaps his wild speeches were not just an act after all. But next time, the one to put Zerbst in her place should be her, not her familiar.

 **Rule of Steel** , she repeated in her head, before entering the dining hall, with Kamina following suit. As he entered, he couldn't help but marvelled at just how big the place actually was. The ceiling was easily high enough to fit Gurren Lagann, and dangling from the ceiling were many chandeliers, lined with gems and candles, resulting in a multi-coloured light show. He was so enthralled by it that he took no note of everyone pointing at him and whispering. It took his "master" pulling his arm to break him out of it, and even then he was ignoring the other students, instead focusing on getting Louise to let go. She didn't.

Eventually, they reached a table mostly devoid of students. That didn't mean it was lacking in food, however. Quite the contrary, in fact, it was lined with many delicious looking dishes. From meat, to soup, to fruits, everything was here! Oh, and there was also salad *shiver*. The man immediately pulled out a chair to sit in, but was stopped by Louise taking his spot before he could. His complaining was cut short by her physically holding his mouth shut and explaining that the table was not meant for commoners. As in, they would be punished if they sat down. She pointed at the ground, where the great assortment on the table had been reduced to one plate with a single piece of bread on it. Apparently, that was supposed to satisfy his eternal hunger. He should be grateful, she went on to say, as she had to call in a few favours to get him entry to the dining hall in the first place. Kamina responded with gentlemanlike manners, and bent down to pick up the bread to eat. She was about to sigh in relief, when she realized that by the time he'd gotten up again, the bread had completely vanished besides a few crumbs on his lips. She just stared in disbelief as he turned around and left.

"I'm going to find some more food. See ya." He spoke, bee lining for the exit. She could not believe what had just transpired. He was like a dog without his leash, just doing whatever he pleased and expected her to clean up after him. Grumbling, she did her best to ignore the stares and hushed jeers, while solemnly eating her breakfast. Her mind was racing, spurred on by her unyielding rage. She'd find some sort of suitable punishment. Since he was too quick for the whip, maybe she should tie him to the wall first? No, he may be a buffoon, but he was proud and muscular. He would not be convinced to do it, nor could she forcibly tie him up.

" _Stupid dog…"_ She mumbled beneath her breath, accepting that she would just have to bear it for now and explain the basics of etiquette to him later (with the help of Signore Whip), finishing her meal in silence. Once done, she headed outside, and found him talking to a maid. Hmph. And she thought he had at least some restraint. But no, the second she no longer watched him, he already started talking to the first girl he saw. It didn't help that her physique, albeit a little on the thinner side, was similar to Zerbst's. Mainly around the curvy parts. The dog and his "food" shared a laugh, but that stopped when Kamina spotted her. He sighed, pulled something out of his pocket, and handed it to the maid before said goodbye to her and heading over to his master, the sheer displeasure of having to do so evident in his expression.

Neither of them spoke a word as they walked to class, their dislike for each other clearly visible to anyone. And naturally, everyone made fun of her. Because why not? It's not like this was anything new. Besides, she was in no mood to speak to a dog in heat anyway, nor should she be expected to, familiar or not. There would be some severe disciplining once classes where over. They finally arrived at their destination, the lab of Mrs Chevreuse. She was an old lady with a wide girth, barely taller than Kamina's belly button. The fact that she could actually use his nudity for something like that disgusted the noble. But thankfully, the teacher mostly ignored him and his state of dress, even though the same could not be said for the students. They ridiculed the two among themselves, and with every word she overheard, Louise's dignity crumbled a little more. Just a regular day at the Tristanian Academy for Magic.

Kamina was honestly surprised she hadn't blown up yet. With him, she showed the same sort of patience he had for eating. But even with the entire room making fun of her, she kept a brave face and focused on the lesson. Speaking of the lesson, it was about as interesting to listen to as expected. As in, not at all. Blablabla a dot mage uses one element, blablabla a line mage uses two, blablabla Osmond and Colbert are great because they are square mages. Yeah, this didn't help at all in his efforts to get home. It was so dull he almost fell asleep, were it not for the constant, intense scribbling coming from Louise's notebook, with the occasional turn of the page. All he could really do to keep himself entertained was count how often he heard the flip. After what felt like an hour (so about two minutes in actual time), he had heard three flips. The one thing he reluctantly admired Louise for was how quick and efficient she managed to write. He couldn't even read, and here she was, copying entire lessons to paper like it was nothing.

At some point, he got bored of even the small game he had (i.e. he lost count at thirty (or was it sixty?)), so he got back to listening to the old lady up front. She was talking about "alchemy" and how to "transmute" dirt into brass. Apparently, with enough mastery of this form of magic, one could transmute it into gold. The students gasped at this, and their whispers grew louder. What point would that serve, he wondered. Gold is just another metal. Might as well use brass. Sighing, he closed his eyes. Maybe sleep would find him after all. Louise still kept on scribbling, wasting no time in writing down every last detail that came out of Mrs Chevreuse's mouth. She had summoned Kamina, so she would be allowed to stay, but if her theoretical grades fell even by a smidge, she might be thrown out. She couldn't afford to stop pushing herself now more than ever. Even if his summoning was a fluke, and the only spell she'd ever cast correctly, she would graduate from this Academy. Nothing else is acceptable for a Vallière.

Kamina was shaken from his nap by nothing. Blinking, he noticed Louise was no longer writing down anything. In fact, she looked like she was about to break her pencil. What the hell was going on? Everyone else looked like they had seen a ghost. The teacher asked what was wrong, and got a swift answer.

"Mrs Chevreuse, haven't you heard? Anytime Vallière tries to cast a spell, it inevitably blows up." Kirche announced, but the teacher seemed hesitant to believe it, stating that it was but a transmutation spell. His ears perked up at that. He could appreciate a good explosion. They were nice and loud, and best of all, didn't give two shits about manners. Also, they were really good at getting rid of beastmen generals that almost kill you by stabbing you in the back. "Suit yourself." The old lady began to sweat a little, seeming hesitant to call Louise now, but the decision was made for her.

"I'll do it, Mrs Chevreuse." The girl announced, and immediately, all students ducked beneath their desks. Trembling, she stood up and marched to the teacher's desk regardless. Kamina observed Louise going to work. She was mumbling something to herself, maybe that 'incantation' thing the old lady had mentioned? That is what they needed to do before the mages could cast their spells, apparently. Louise then lightly tapped the stone with her wand. Nothing happened. Kamina slumped in his chair, disappointed. He got all excited over nothing. Then there was a flash of light.

 **BOOM!**

 **Well, that just happened. Looks like Kamina will enjoy his stay much more now, eh? Review if you can be arsed, and I'll go sleep now. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright alright alright! We´re back in business! TO THE REVIEWS!**

 **Guest: It already is (kind of). Read chapter one again, specifically right when our leader does the Giga Drill Break (sounds like a dance when I say it like that…I want to see that now).**

 **Croniklerx: Ok, wait, first off: JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THAT IS LONG. *ahem* Alright, next thing: JUST WHO IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?! In the beginning, everything will be similar. After all, Kamina has not had the chance to cause a real ripple in the world yet. Also, you seem to have some misconceptions about Spiral Power; EVERYONE has it, not just Simon. That´s why the Antispirals want to destroy Earth in the first place.**

 **Additionally, a Ganmen does not require Spiral Power to use (example: every last beastman), and as for your suggestion at the end, already have plans for that. Anyways, I´ll try to put a different spin on the story, and that is not just a very clever pun, but I will literally try to change everything post Mott. How, I´ll keep a secret…**

 **Also, I accept the person that you think (the hell) you are. After all, you are not obliged to read. But in the end, I know this. THIS STORY IS THE STORY THAT WILL PIERCE YOUR HEAVENLY EXPECTATIONS!**

 **Don Orbit: Alright, sorry, but sometime in the future, I´ll have to steal "pink banshee". That´s just too good. Also, it´s not the worst job. I mean, with my relationship status, I** _ **could**_ **get summoned to meet the angel Siesta and *ahem*** _ **learn more about Kirche´s personality.**_ **Nothing else. Nope. Only interested in her big, bouncing, beautifully tanned personalities…**

 **xbox432: Fixed your issue.**

 **ultima-owner: CONGRATULATIONS! You´re the first reader of my other story (that I know of) that has found this one! Your reward? More story! It´s like a self-sustaining cycle or something…anyways, as for drafting Fouquet, I might just use that. But let me tell you this. From this chapter onwards, it will become increasingly difficult for our hero. Because…well, he won´t be prepared for those kinds of fights.**

 **Let´s get on with it!**

Kamina sighed as he knocked on the door for what felt like the millionth time. And once again, he was told to go away. He knocked again. And was told to leave. Seriously, this must have been going on for hours at this point. So he decided to do the same thing he did back when Simon was depressed in Jeeha village after those bitches bullied him again.

 ***Knockx3***

"Louise."

 ***Knockx3***

"Louise."

 ***Knockx3***

"Louise."

After the third cycle, the pinkette jerked the door open, meeting his confident gaze with two twitching eyebrows and a deep scowl. "What." She answered, her voice shaking with both fury and uneasiness at the same time. Kamina knew why. As it turned out, Mrs Chevreuse was a new teacher, and had not been told about Louise´s explosive nature. So, once the lesson was over, she demanded that Louise be suspended from the school.

Mainly because her favorite robe was ruined by that point blank explosion. And Old Osmond, after some consideration, and seeing the horrible state the poor girl was in after the bullies did their thing after the explosion, he did in fact tell Louise to take the rest of the day off. And as she stormed out of the office, he sent Kamina a glance asking that he took care of the mage. So here he was, in front of a volatile bomb, and obviously, he did as men do when a maiden was in distress. He patted her head with his hand, and grinned.

"That was a mighty fine explosion. Whatever the others say, remember that, and take pride in it." He spoke, somewhat lifting her spirits, judging by her widened eyes. That changed when she grumbled, and motioned for him to enter. He did, and sat down on the chair as she closed the door, and then took a seat on the edge of her bed.

"Listen, commoner –"

"It´s Kamina."

She grumbled, and began again.

"Alright, Kamina, whether or not you judge that explosion to be good does not matter. Not to me, nor to society. My entire life, all I´ve managed to create were explosions. Not a single spell works. And thus, I am a failure on all accounts. I bring shame to my family. The only success I have ever had is with Summon Familiar. And even that is questionable. I mean, the familiar represents the elemental affiliation, and I summoned a commoner, of all things! And one that refuses to obey, is a loud, overconfident buffoon, and I still have not even bound you! So, after hearing all this, can you, with confidence, tell me that I can take pride in my failures!?" She ranted, panting heavily after finishing, her face red from lack of oxygen, and for having to reveal these embarrassing facts.

Kamina just sat there, arms crossed, the grin never leaving his face.

"So what?" Her eyes widened. Was this idiot listening? Or was he just too stupid to comprehend her situation? It was possible, as he was specifically making advances on that busty maid. A dog in heat, that´s what he was.

"I don´t care for your society. It´s entirely built on your superiority over the commoners, and you aristocrats abuse that power. It´s a simple fact. However! The fact is, if you see explosions as failures, and everyone else is thusly better than you, just why are you the only one who can reliably blow stuff up?" That halted her previous thoughts. She had never thought of it like that. It was true that in this world, anyone who falls out of the system set up by the church was relentlessly persecuted, by the church or their peers.

"Besides, I doubt any other person in this academy has the same kind of destructive power as you. I´ll tell you a little something. You remind me a lot of my little brother. He too was ostracized for being different to everyone else."

Louise snorted. "Why? Is he as stupid as you?"

Kamina´s grin fell slightly. "Not exactly. Quite the opposite, in fact. He is a lot smarter than me. But that does not matter. You see, he was someone special. He worked hard, late into the night, every day, digging relentlessly. With that, he was able to feed both me and him."

This resulted in a raised eyebrow. "Why would he dig every day? Did you two live under a rock or something?"

"Yep." There was no hesitation in that answer, and Louise began laughing herself to a near comatose state. Kamina just stared. Was there something funny about that? He couldn´t tell. "Why are you laughing? As I told you, we lived in an underground village." He added, which made her laughter subside after she registered what he said.

After that, he explained the system of their underground village, of how the best diggers who expanded the village got the best steak to eat. And of his rebellious attitude toward the prick of a chieftain. He then went on to describe the surface, their struggle against the beastmen who attacked every day in their Ganmen, the foundation of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, but left out Yoko. There were some things that had to remain private. As he continued his story, Louise seemed to grow more and more interested. When he finished, she looked more than a bit doubtful.

"Huh. That sounds hard to believe. To be honest, if you didn´t show up the way you did, I would whip you for lying to me. But since you were kind of split in two, I am inclined to believe you. If you can show me some evidence, that is." She spoke, and Kamina just shook his head.

"I don´t have any. How would I?" He answered, making her sigh and massage her forehead.

"Whatever. I knew it was too good to be true. You know what, you were trying to make a point earlier. Just tell me what you were trying to say, and then leave. I need to rest." She mumbled, clearly tired, and Kamina blinked, trying to remember what his point actually was. Grinning sheepishly, he stood up and left, saying he´d forgotten as he closed the door. Louise sighed, and let herself fall onto the bed, dozing off immediately.

Seeing as our hero had nothing to do, he decided to wander the hallways, to get more familiarized with the layout. Perhaps, if he found what they called a "library", he might find a way back. He didn´t. Instead, he found himself in the courtyard from yesterday evening. As he exited through the large archway, he turned around to look at the Academy, and flipped it the bird. One day. One day, he would fully map the damn place.

He continued walking, and spotted Douche the Blonde up ahead, flirting with a girl, again. However, this one was blonde, contrary to the brunette from yesterday. The bastard dared to…! Kamina could not let this stand. So, instead of following common(er´s) sense and avoiding the two-timing shit, he waltzed straight up to him, and put a hand on his shoulder, gripping as hard as possible, drawing not only the attention of the boy, but also everyone else at the table.

"Hey, _boy_ , if I remember correctly, this was not the lady you were flirting with yesterday. Care to explain?" He questioned coldly, making not only the boy sweat, but the others at the table confused. However, Douche seemed to have some bravado, as he slapped Kamina´s hand, angrily returning his gaze as he stood up.

"Silence, commoner! What are you thinking, just coming up to me and accusing me of such a foul deed for no reason? And worst of all, not only are you staining my honor, but also that of my dear fiancée, Montmorency! I do hope that you have evidence to back your ridiculous claim!" Douche answered, flamboyantly waving about his rose. Kamina removed his hand from the boy´s shoulder, and cracked his knuckles.

"You want proof? Who the hell do you think I am? You know exactly what I am talking about. You think that as long as your friends here don´t believe me, you´re safe. Well, news flash, buddy." He reared back his fist at the end of his sentence.

"Real men don´t hide behind others when they´re confronted."

And with that, he gave the blonde a punch to the cheek that made him rocket back several feet, and fall unceremoniously to the ground, staining his clothes brown. For a minute, everything went silent. Then, Douche stood up, coughing as he struggled to stand on his feet.

"You filthy, good-for-nothing commoner…I challenge you to a one on one fight! First, you stain not only my honor, but that of my lovely fiancée, and then you have the _audacity_ to assault me! You should feel honored. Commoners never get to duel a noble and prove their mettle. But just this once, I will allow you to –" He never finished, as he coughed again, and fell to the ground. Kamina marvelled at the sheer lack of resilience this kid possessed. It´s like he never got punched before.

The blonde girl rushed to his side, wand in hand, and rapidly spoke the incantation of a healing spell, instantly removing any ailment that had befallen the Douche. She helped him back up, and after he thanked her with some extra sweet talking on the side, he turned back toward the madman, at least, that´s what he was in the minds of everyone here.

"Vestri Court. Five minutes." He stated, and with a flourish, he left. Kamina let him go, and cracked his neck. He had let him go. After thinking about his reasons behind it, he understood. He _did_ love beating overconfident pricks at their own game, be it the beastmen, the chieftain, or Douche the Blonde. He was about to follow, when he was hugged from behind, halting his march. He felt two big mounds pressing onto him, and for a brief moment, enjoyed the sensation, but got back to business.

Perversion could come later. Right now, fighting for his beliefs came first. After all, two-timing not only sullies the "honor" of the girls, though that word has been tainted by this twisted society, but also possibly destroys any kind of self-worth they may have. And noble or not, that is something he would never tolerate. And so, with a grave look on his eyes, he looked at Siesta, who was trying to stop him from going at all costs.

"You´ll die, Kamina…don´t go…" she whispered, shaking, definitely because of fear. This world was disgusting. This was how she should act when he goes off to fight beastmen, not fellow humans! The fact that this place could instill such fear in commoners for just calling out a noble for their bullshit was unacceptable. Kamina turned his head, and gently, but firmly removed her arms from his torso. He took a step forward to stop her from clinging to him again, and looked her in the eye again, this time with a grin.

"I won´t lose. Just who the hell do you think I am?" The confident way he said those words did not calm the maid in the slightest. He was insane! No one could stand up to the upper class! It was impossible, unthinkable, and just plain stupid to believe! And yet, he kept his grin, and marched forward. He then snapped his fingers as he remembered something, and told her to do something she agreed to immediately, and she ran off.

He continued his march, and soon arrived at the location of the duel, where a crowd had assembled. It seemed that Douche felt more comfortable with his kind around him. So he wanted to make an example of the mighty Kamina, eh? Heh. Good one. They looked each other up and down, and Douche waved his wand, creating a sword for Kamina to use.

"Take it. If I beat a weaponless enemy, it would only dishonour me and Montmorency further. Besides, I´ll be using my golems, as I my runic name Guiche the Bronze implies, so you´ll need it." He stated, creating a valkerie-like statue, completely made of brass. It wielded a longsword, not too different to the one stuck in the floor in front of Kamina. Said duellist was grinning, and stomped on the handle, making the sword spin around his neck, miraculously leaving no cuts.

Then, he grabbed it and snapped it in half over his knee, shocking the audience. "I don´t need your stinking weaponry. If you refuse to fight me directly, I´ll be the man and fight with my fists." Kamina spoke, throwing away the broken pieces of the brass sword. As if it would´ve helped anyway. It was brass, for fuck sake! Douche just started laughing, and soon, the whole audience was, too. They were laughing at him. Well, that would change soon. He would beat the crap out of this philanderer. Said boy was coughing again, possibly because the spell didn´t heal everything. They _were_ kids, after all. They couldn´t have mastered their craft yet. But still, he was coughing because of laughter.

"Alright, if you want to be an insane fool and fight magic with the most primitive ´weapon´ thinkable, then fine! The audience witnessed that I gave him the option of fighting me _fairly_ , yes?" He asked, and got a round of approving applause. He grinned confidently. There was no way he would lose, sword or not.

"So, any rules?" Kamina inquired, and the response was short. Everything goes, until one of them yields. He grinned. Alright, so it went on until Douche gave up. Good to know. He stretched, and gave his okay for the fight to begin. They had a referee, for whatever reason, which was a tiny, seemingly emotionless, blue-haired girl. Okay, hold on, she looked like she was ten. Just how young were these damn kids?!

She signalled the start of the duel with a whistle. The second that whistle was heard, the golem charged at it´s target, with every intent of beating him into submission. After all, the weapon was blunt. It wouldn´t kill anyone. So, it rushed toward him with blinding speed, sword held high. Just as it was about to hit him, Kamina rolled beneath it. The blade cut only air, and as he came out of his roll, he reared back his fist, ready to beat the shit out of this doll. It barely matched the speed of Viral, and he´d trained hard after nearly being whooped by that bloody beastman. It seemed like this would be even easier than he thought.

Except that it wasn´t, and he realized that when the doll turned it´s head immediately towards him and smashed the side of his head with the flat part of the blade, sending Kamina reeling. His ear was ringing, but he could still hear the cheers of the other brats. With lightning fast reflexes, he jumped back from the follow up swing, which nearly hit his sides. He was still holding his head due to the pain, but got no reprieve. Every time he was attacked, he lost ground, and soon, he was at the edge of the ring.

He was sweating like a pig. It seemed like he had underestimated this kid. But that wouldn´t stop him. That brat was far too confident in himself, and saw himself as some sort of god. Kamina would personally beat that illusion out of him, and teach him what a man truly was. And so, he stomped on the ground, and stared right at the golem, which was approaching with lightning speed. It was getting closer and closer, weapon readied for a swing. Grinning, he got ready to retaliate. However, the clash would never happen, as the fight was interrupted. Loudly. With a screech. If his ear wasn´t bleeding before, it was now.

"Familiar! Just what in the Founder´s name do you think you´re doing?!"

Ah, yes. He knew that voice. He turned around, and right there stood Louise, hands on her hips, eyes brimming with anger, a huge scowl on her face, and he could _swear_ that she had the whip in her cape´s pocket. And after her outburst, everything just went silent. Then, Douche decided to speak up.

"Oh dear. Can the Zero not even control her own familiar? Or is this commoner even that?" he spoke, the audience beginning their bullying again as well, making Louise lower her head and shake ever so slightly. "Zero, just admit it. He is a mercenary. After all, I don´t see any runes on him. Or are you saying that you failed something as simple as Contract Familiar?"

They were chanting now.

" _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero."_

" _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero."_

" _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero."_

And Louise was at her breaking point. He could tell. She looked like she would burst into tears any second now. He would put a stop to it. "Louise. Don´t listen to them." He said, making her lift her head up to look at him, anger in her eyes. How dare he speak to her in such a way, after acting like an imbecile and dishonouring her more than her own failures ever could? He, her only success, may be her greatest failure of all. "I remembered what I wanted to tell you earlier, so I sent Siesta to fetch you. I´ll show you just who I am."

Grinning, he puffed out his chest, and with a grin, demanded the duel to continue. The audience was flabbergasted, and started laughing again. Was this guy a masochist? Or was he really just a stupid mercenary? Probably from Germania, too. Douche just sighed, and commanded his golem to attack. "I pity you, commoner. Had you bowed before me with your ´master´ and begged for forgiveness, I might have actually lessened your punishment. But not anymore. Valkerie, attack!"

Kamina planted his feet into the ground, and roared as the golem before him swung. Louise and Siesta didn´t watch. They closed their eyes, waiting for the sound of his screams to enter their ears. And a sound was heard. But it was more screechy than anticipated, and didn´t mentally hurt to listen to, but it did hurt physically. They opened their eyes, and their jaws, along with everyone else´s, slacked at the sight.

The commoner, the powerless, insane commoner, had punched through the sword and right into the golem´s face, denting the metal to the point where it was unrecognizable. Slowly, he retracted his arm, and the metal doll fell to the ground, turning to dust soon after. His hand was bleeding, the skin torn. With heavy steps, Kamina made his way over to Douche, who had summoned two more valkeries, commanding them to attack, although his fear was evident.

They charged at our hero, but he was not fazed. He was bruised and beaten by them, but he stood fast, and slowly continued forward. He was halfway across the arena when he stopped, and finally spoke again. He was bleeding from his head, from his arm, his hand, his belly, his back, no place was not covered in red. At this point, everyone was astonished that he could even stand.

"Louise. I have failed to block every last attack of these stupid hunks of scrap. And yet, I´m winning." He stated, eliciting a timid nod from the girl. She couldn´t speak. She was too enraptured by his ridiculous stupidity. Or was it his fighting spirit? It might even be both. "I think you understand now. How failures are inevitable on your path forward. And yet, you need to keep moving, and seize your tomorrow with your own hands! And _that_ is how the Dai-Gurren Brigade rolls!"

With those words, he finally lifted his hands, and grabbed the golem´s faces. He twisted them off with one smooth motion, and tossed the crumbling heads away. With a solemn expression, he continued on his path toward Douche, who was scrambling to summon more valkeries. However, as it seemed, he couldn´t muster up the willpower to create them.

So he did the one thing he could think of. He made a mad dash for the straight sword that Kamina had broken earlier, specifically the handle, and held it in front of himself in a defensive position. "S-stay back!" he demanded, but there was no stopping the demon in front of him. In fact, it only seemed to make him go faster.

Gulping, Douche lunged forward with the broken sword, but his swing lacked finesse, unlike a certain spicy princess. The second he was in range, Kamina grabbed his weapon, forcefully tore it from Douche´s grip and tossed it behind himself. The very next moment, Douche was punched in the jaw again, flying even further than before, losing a tooth in the process. Once he was on the ground, coughing, he opened his eyes, only to nearly wet himself when Kamina was already above him again, a fist raised.

"I yield!" He cried.

"Nope." Came the response. What followed was a good minute of Kamina punching the mage over and over again. He was bleeding from his mouth, where the tooth had come off, and the others just watched in horror as their image of an invincible aristocracy was torn apart right in front of their eyes. With each punch, they gasped and reeled back a little bit more. Louise and Siesta couldn´t bear the sight, yet their vision was glued to it. Why, they did not know.

The referee was completely silent, calmly observing the situation. She knew that there was no holding back on the commoner´s part, but until the mage was in real danger, she would not step in. After all, everything was allowed. Even not accepting that the other party acknowledges their loss, and continuing the fight. After a while, the beating stopped.

"Well then, Douche, won´t you fight back?" Kamina asked, making the whimpering noble pause for just a second.

"W-what are you talking abou – " He couldn´t finish his sentence, as he was hit again, this time in the abdominal region.

"Won´t you fight for it? The honor of your fiancée? For your own ideals?"

Douche just lay there, already numb from the pain as he was hit again. It was true. His entire life, he had not fought for anything. Everything was a game to him. The servants praised him for everything, he was the son of a great general, and from the age of five, he was destined to marry Montmorency. But right here, right now, he could change it.

The beliefs he had been taught from birth…he could prove to everyone, no, to _himself_ that he truly believed in them, and that they were worth fighting for. He glanced at his arms. He could move them. Twitching, he formed a fist with his right hand. Then, right as another punch hit him, he countered with one of his own, right in his opponent´s face. It was weak. It wouldn´t faze him.

But still, Kamina was smiling with pride. "Well done. Now stand up." He spoke, standing up himself and reaching out to Guiche with his hand to help him up. After getting over his shock, tentatively, the boy placed his hand in the man´s, and was hoisted up with one good pull. He couldn´t stand very well, but Kamina made sure he didn´t fall over by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Now then, let´s continue."

"Yes, let´s."

And with that, even though the mage was still being held up by the man, they started punching each other with all their might. It was brutal, unnecessary, and just plain stupid. And yet, with that fistfight, the two learned more about each other and themselves than words could ever convey. In each strike, there were hundreds of emotions, memories, and ideals, and their reactions to them were visible in their flinching, their coughing and their heartbeat, which the other could feel perfectly due to their proximity. That was something the audience could not see, hear or feel. Instead of seeing a confrontation of their very souls, what they saw were two idiots injuring each other over and over again. After a while, a teacher showed up to pull the two apart, as they still tried to hit the other.

But even as the fighters were forcefully torn apart, their understanding was forever written into the ground, with the ink that was their mixed blood. And their newly acquired respect for one another was marked with one, final punch, of a fist against another.

Immediately after, there was an uproar. Two girls, the brunette from yesterday and the blonde from earlier, flocked toward Guiche, and wanted to tend to him. However, once they realized that he was, in fact, two timing, he received two slaps, one to each cheek. Naturally, he was brought to the infirmary right after by the teacher, as he could not even stand on his legs after that. Kamina gave his new comrade a salute, and turned around, facing a confused and worried Louise and Siesta. He just grinned as he usually did, and walked towards the two.

"Well, then, you get all that?" he asked, getting two small shakes of the head in response. Sighing, he scratched the back of his head, staining his blue hair red. "Eh, you´ll figure it out soon enough. Anyways, I think it´s time we deal with that contract of yours."

 **And so, the, in my (not very humble) opinion, best possible iteration of this fight ends with a comradery between the boy and the manliest of men. Now, since he has another friend/disciple in Halkeginia, will Kamina´s life become any easier (no, because the medieval society they live in is utter bollocks)? But still, it´s progress. So, leave a review (if you feel inclined/if you don´t want me to send over dat boi dabbing) and I´ll see you next time. Bye!**


	5. Chapter 5

**REVIEWS!**

 **humancreeper: …not the best choice of name. Anyways, if I start something, I finish it. Trust me on that. This story will end one day. And it won´t be dead. For it shall live as long as time itself!**

 **Don Orbit: I won´t comment on that. Also, technically, Guiche is not yet part of the Brigade. But he might be one day…**

 **ZeXal2828: Oh, thank you for validating my opinion! It´s so rare on the internet(also, that ego boost bettered my opinion of you a lot)! As for following him forever…that´s a bit weird and creepy. Or something.**

 **gold crown dragon: Indeed. That is also, in fact, the true story of how I lost my first (imaginary) girlfriend, too. I swear. It´s like trying to beat her into awesomeness is bad or something.**

 **Guest: Yeah, I bought it from the store. Only the best testosterone for you, my dear readers! …I am getting paid for this, right? I got set back 4 grand by that testosterone.**

 **Dark Avenger874: Stating the obvious. Twice. After all, JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK HE IS?!**

 **Alright, reviews are done, I have a date with my 84** **th** **imaginary girlfriend, so let´s get this over with!**

After cleaning himself in the washing corner, Kamina joined Louise at a table in the courtyard in which he confronted Guiche. It had taken him quite a while, but now he arrived at the table with no drop of blood to be seen on his person. Since Siesta was kind enough to bandage him up, he was now essentially wearing a shirt, and his wounds were all covered. Immediately after sitting down, he was slapped in the face. "That´s for worrying me." Louise spoke, arms and legs crossed. Kamina stared for a second, and then sighed. He _was_ quite reckless. And worrying a lady is unacceptable. So, just this once, he would turn a blind eye.

"Alright, Louise. Let´s get straight to the point. What would this contract entail?" he asked, making the mage twiddle her thumbs nervously. He would not like this. Not in the slightest.

"Well, first off, for the contract to be formed, I…I have to…kiss you." The last part was so silent she was giving the growth of grass a run for it´s money. Kamina frowned, and asked for her to speak up, with little improvement. Sighing, he scratched his head, before realizing that he nearly removed the bandage. Oops. That would not be a nice sight to see.

He then inquired about the contract itself, which made Louise even more nervous. She didn´t want to end up like Guiche. "Um, the contract, well, it binds you to me, so you are essentially seen as a sort of extension of mine…then, once the runes are engraved in a rather painful process, you will gain incredible powers, depending on what they say." She rambled, but Kamina could _smell_ it. There was something she wasn´t telling him. She sighed. She would be completely honest. Maybe that would win him over.

"The runes have another effect. To make the familiar more loyal to it´s master, it removes memories of it´s home, the urge to return, and makes positive feelings toward the master more powerful, while negative emotions are weakened or removed entirely." She concluded her explanation, and for a second, there was silence between the two. The fact that everyone else had fled the premise once Kamina entered the courtyard did _not_ help.

"Well, I´m sorry, Louise. But I have to refuse."

Her expression fell. So this was it. Her one success, her powerful familiar, the man whom she could not decide whether to admire or hate, refused to be exactly that. It was only to be expected. He was a proud individual, and anything that degraded his individuality was a no-go. She knew as much after such a short time. It was amazing, really.

"However! There is something I can do." Her face shot up, and her eyes begged for him to continue. This was it. This was her one chance at redemption. She needed him, at all costs. He was her one ticket to staying in the Academy and make her family proud. "I will tell you this right away. Runes are prohibited."

Alright, she could live with that. The runes may grant various benefits, like seeing through each other´s eyes, but who cares. Keeping him as a familiar was much more important. The runes were mostly a formality anyways, and she wasn´t all too keen on overwriting his personality with whatever the runes came up with. While it might make things a lot easier, for some reason, she felt that this would be much better in the long run. In what way, she did not know.

"In public, you may call me familiar, and I will refer to you as master, if you want to." That was the one thing she needed. Anything else didn´t matter. "In private, though, we are equals. I´ll call you Louise, and you´ll call me Kamina. I will remain completely independent of you other than that familiar business. I want to live my life as I see fit, got it?" Yes, yes, that was basic human privilege. She had no problems with that.

"And finally, my last condition: you will help me get off this world, and back home. At that moment, when I return, our contract ends. Have we got a deal?"

Alright, that last point was absolutely inadmissible. He had to stay with her forever. A mage always needs a familiar by his side, no matter what! And regardless where he was, even without the runes, the summoning spell would bring him right back. Besides, she had no idea how to even get him back! Heck, she had no idea where he even lived! She voiced her complaints, and he thought for a second, before snapping his fingers as he got an idea.

"Then we´ll make this simple. You´ll just come with me!"

…as stupid as it was, that _did_ kind of solve every issue she had, from a logical standpoint, if the world he had described earlier that day was truly where he hailed from. Though she would have to leave her entire life in this world behind…she was not sure if she could ever do it. She would just have to make sure that he never finds a way back, then.

Sighing, she held out her hand. "Alright, comm – Kamina. You´ve got yourself a deal. For the lack of better ideas. Your deal is reasonable anyways besides that last part, that is just insane." Grinning, he shook her hand as they came to an understanding of sorts. And she couldn´t help but smile back. And so began their partnership, which would no doubt be stressful for the both of them. But at the same time, it would help them grow, become stronger and better people because of it.

At first, though, they decided to head back to Louise´s room, as both of them had nothing else to do, being either suspended or bored, and they were tired. On the way, Kamina began marking important points on the map in his mind, so as to finally learn the layout of this damn place. The students they met fled on sight, but they didn´t exactly care. Kamina couldn´t care less about them, and to Louise, this was infinitely better than the mockery she´d endured up to this point.

However, one thing that bugged them both was the light tapping of feet behind them, at all times, from the moment they entered, all the way until they arrived at her bedroom. But every time they turned to look, no one was there, and the steps stopped. Then, once they began their walk again, the noise returned. It was creeping them out, which prompted them to speed up their footsteps.

Once they entered her bedroom, they sighed in relief. Then, after Louise noticed that it might just be ever so slightly degrading, even for a commoner, to sleep on a pile of hay, she told him that they would get him his own room on another day. Kamina, too tired from the fight to care, nodded and threw himself onto the hay, dozing off immediately.

She watched him with a passing interest, her gaze drifting over his toned body. She caught herself, chastising herself for entertaining such base urges, and took off her cape before lying down in bed. Hours passed before they awoke. And it was Kamina, funnily enough. The fight may have worn him out, but he recovered rather quickly. Besides, he was not known to be a heavy sleeper, and he was hungry. Slowly, he stood up, looking out the window. The sun was setting. It would be dinnertime soon.

Hopefully.

Seeing as he was her partner now, he leaned on the edge of the large bed and lightly shook Louise. She moaned in her sleep, and turned around to avoid his hand. Naturally, it didn´t work, and he shook harder. She rolled over to the other end of the bed. Alright, this was getting annoying. Kamina sped things up considerably after that.

In that he just shoved her off the bed and onto the cold, hard stone. That got her up immediately, screaming in surprise, anger, pain, and many other emotions. She jumped up with impressive acrobatics, and grabbed the whip from her desk. _"You will pay for that."_ Was all she said, before relentlessly cracking the whip over and over again, narrowly missing Kamina with every swing. He sweated. She had gotten a lot better at this in what? Ten hours, maybe? He would need to up his game.

He eventually found a hole in her wild swings and dashed through the barrage of leather, grabbing hold of her hand to stop her from whipping him. She struggled, and beat his chest multiple times, but he didn´t flinch, even though she was impressively powerful for a screeching girl with the body of a thirteen year old. After a while, she did calm down, and he wrestled the whip from her grip.

"Louise, do not ever do that again." He demanded, and she caved in. She had no room for debate. He may be her familiar officially, but in truth, they were partners, equals. Although, she could conduct the binding while he slept, but that was dishonourable. There was no way she could live with herself after that. An animal? Sure, they don´t really have a mind of their own besides eating, drinking, and fornicating. But Kamina was a human, and so she would have to live with taking away his free will if she bound him by force. And that went against all morals, even if he was but a commoner and _did_ behave like an animal at times. A certain maid came to mind.

And so, she nodded in defeat. "Why did you wake me up anyway?" she inquired after, making Kamina simply point out the window. She blinked, and turned to look. Once she realized what he was implying, she sighed in relief. "Thank the Founder. We have just enough time before dinnertime to get ready. Kamina, leave the room." She stated, hopping onto the chair in front of her desk, and the man just sighed as he opened the door. This would take _forever_.

When he leaned against the wall opposite to his partner´s bedroom, he took note of a small light right behind the corner. Blinking, he tried to get a closer look, but it just ran away. _"Weird."_ He thought to himself, getting back into his position. He had entirely forgotten about the pursuer from earlier, it seemed. Anyways, Louise joined him after record time, and they made their way over to the dining hall together. Louise, remembering the pursuer, was thankful that he didn´t show up, well, pipe up, rather.

When they entered the hall, everything was as usual, the students chattering among themselves and the servants running about to tend to each order they received. As the two walked a bit further into the room, someone took notice of them, and within but a few seconds, time seemed to stand still. Nobody dared to move or make a sound. However, the duo ignored it, revelling in their newly acquired status, at least to a certain degree, and went to take a seat.

The table they were walking towards was emptied of students in but a fraction of a second, and Louise sat down. She glanced up and down the table, but no one was there. Kamina grabbed his bread and finished it in one bite, before standing up, saying he would leave to get more. However, he then noticed. The looks everyone was giving his partner. They were furious. They looked like they wanted to just beat her to near death at this point. He shot Louise a quick look, and saw the fear. She knew they would try something the second he was gone.

"Well, I guess I can stay a bit longer until you´re finished." He said, before squatting down on the floor. And all of a sudden, it looked like the intentions of the other students shifted, and they decided that it may be smart to just ignore the two instead. Kamina heard a quiet ´thanks´ being whispered next to him, and he silently acknowledged it. He spent his time watching the lightshow that was the ceiling, and enjoyed every last bit of it. He thought of his place in this world. There were no beastmen to fight, the world was at peace.

The surface belonged to the humans, at least in this world. By this point, he had surpassed his father, and entered an entirely new world. It kind of put a damper in his ambition, but that would not last long. Last time, there were the Ganmen and the Brigade to help him with that, but now, he was on his own, without Gurren, Simon, or anyone else to help him. Well, that was not entirely true.

There was Louise, Siesta and Guiche here. Although he still needed to properly talk to the boy, since he´d been stuck in the infirmary for quite a while now. But that did not matter. The three of them just needed a bit of a change in their mindsets, and then they would make excellent Brigade members. Then, they could go and see his world once he returned, and meet the Dai-Gurren Brigade. And finally, after all those ordeals, they would pierce the heavens themselves!

Together with Simon, that is. He would find a way. He always did. Until one of the brothers found a way to bring the leader of the Brigade back, that same man would not rest. This world needed the Brigade as much as the last. Once they returned to his world and did as he set out to do, they would come back. And bring progress to this retarded place.

His thoughts were interrupted by a throat being cleared near him. He turned to look. Out of his peripherals, he saw Louise shake just the slightest bit. But right in front of him stood Guiche the Bronze. Yes, he no longer was Douche the Blonde. He looked apologetic, and mouthed a request at Kamina, which he obliged to. He knew what was about to happen. "Master. There is someone that wants to talk to you." He stated matter-of-factly, pulling at her cape.

She seized up, and turned to look at her ex-tormenter. Her eyes hid her fear, instead putting on a mask of steely defiance. "What do you want, Guiche?" She asked, keeping up her cold attitude. If Kamina didn´t know better, he would have bought it and believed her to be completely composed. But in the end, it was all just a façade. Guiche didn´t seem to know, as he started nervously shifting around, before he manned up and bowed.

"I´m sorry, Miss Vallière!" he yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. Even if he didn´t apologize as loud as he did, the fact that all attention was glued on to the trio would not have exactly helped him with hiding any part of the conversation. Simply put, everyone´s jaw had dropped hard enough to bash through the floor and into the wine cellar. Guiche de Gramont? The one with the most pride, thinnest skin and spoiled attitude? Apologizing? To the Zero? It was inconceivable. Especially to Louise, who had stopped shaking, in favour of just sitting completely still.

"…I fear I have misheard you. Could you please repeat yourself?" She said, her eyes glued to the boy, who was still rather nervous. The thumbs-up from the man on the ground helped him gather up his courage, and he spoke with confidence.

"Miss Vallière, I have mistreated you ever since you arrived at this Academy. It took me a whole year and a beating from your familiar to realize, but I can now say confidently that I have made a mistake. And so, I will try to make it up to you in any way I can. Ask anything of me, and it shall happen as quickly as possible. I swear on my name as a member of the Gramont family."

The last bit seemed to cause quite a stir, as many began whispering among themselves. Kamina spied Guiche´s fiancée staring at him worriedly from another table, and nodded at him, satisfied. If this was their reaction, then what he did must have either been unheard of or just plain insane. Basically, your everyday life in the Dai-Gurren Brigade.

Louise´s head was spinning. This had been a rough day already, but now she was wondering if this was all a dream. That would explain why a commoner could beat an aristocrat, why his tale and stupidity was out of this world, and why someone who had been bullying her for an entire year _and_ was known for never acknowledging his own failures, now stood in front of her, bowing, and swearing on his family name to atone for it in any way possible. Slowly, she stood up, and, with her hair covering her eyes, she nodded.

"I accept your apology, Guiche de Gramont. If you would, could you leave me alone for a while? I need to discuss my demands with my familiar." She spoke quietly and shot her plate a quick look. It was nearly full. Well, at this point, she couldn´t give a damn. "Familiar. Let´s go." She said, heading for the exit.

Kamina, after standing up, gave Guiche a subtle sign that they would have a talk later, which the boy silently acknowledged before heading back to his table, where he was already receiving weird looks from. The man then quickly ran after his partner, catching up in a matter of seconds. After they arrived at her room, she told him to leave as well. She said that he might find some food in the kitchen, and closed the door in his face. He knew why. After being nearly tormented like this for a whole year and then suddenly getting an apology from one of those exact tormenters, he might get emotional as well.

He trudged through the hallways for at least half an hour before he found himself in the washing corner courtyard. Again. After conducting his ritual of flipping the building off, our hero went over to said washing corner, and stared into the small river that flowed through it. It was as clear as a crystal, and the moons could be seen in the reflection. He lifted his gaze toward the sky. The two great moons blocked most of it, but there were many other stars he could observe.

All of those lights…he wanted to see them up close one day. He lied down and put his hands beneath his head as he continued stargazing. He never really had time for that before, back in the brigade. He was just too tired because of their campaign for the surface. He tried counting all of them. Every last star. As it turned out, there were simply too many. Figures. He settled for only looking at them.

Soon, Kamina heard light footsteps approaching. "Hey." He knew that voice. He jumped up, and turned around. Yep, there was the smiling face of Siesta. She beckoned him to follow, and with a raised eyebrow, he did. It´s not like he had anything better to do. Besides, if anyone knew where the kitchen was, it would be her. So they entered the **Academy of getting lost™** , and took a familiar path, the one that led to the dining hall.

Weirdly enough, Siesta did not respond to any questions he asked, the closest thing to an answer he got was to the question "Where are we going?", and the only thing he got was "It´s a secret.", and a mischievous giggle. Once they arrived at the dining hall, it was rather eerie. It was completely silent, and their steps echoed of the walls.

It didn´t seem to put a damper in Siesta´s cheeriness, though, as she was still humming to herself quietly. They were going toward a wooden door, which Kamina assumed would be the kitchen. Why he was being brought there, he did not know. His suspicions were confirmed when the smell of food entered his nose. It was the same smell that was in the air in this very hall just earlier this evening.

The maid opened the door with gusto, and all but shoved him in. He quickly realized that he was being expected. Probably every servant was in the room, and all eyes were fixated on him. Siesta closed the door, and the second that door was shut, cheers erupted, everyone was applauding him. Why, he did not know. A big, burly man in a cook´s garb that reminded him of Dayakka, albeit this guy had an absolutely beautiful moustache, came up to him after a few seconds.

"Welcome to my humble kitchen! The name´s Marteau!" After he introduced himself, he had a good laugh and hit our hero on the back with a lot of vigor. Some might even say, too much vigor. Seriously, he nearly broke his spine. However, Kamina had a good chuckle, and manly as he was, he returned the gesture. It soon turned into a competition of who could hit the other harder, and the cheering and applause got even louder, egging the two on even further.

Soon, though, Siesta hit both of them on the head with a rolling pin to stop them. It worked quite well, judging from the fact that they stopped immediately upon seeing her dangerous smile. And so, Kamina was led to a table in the center of the room, where he was told to wait briefly. He was given no break, though. The servants swarmed him and bombarded him with questions.

"What´s your name?" "Where you are from?" "Are you a mercenary?" "Do you beat up those stuck up bastards all the time?" "Are you really that kid´s familiar?" "Kyaaa, look at those muscles!"

Okay, maybe it wasn´t just questions. Some of them were blatantly checking him out. He grinned. He enjoyed this treatment. It reminded him of the nights he spent in Ritona, or the one night he partied away with the Dai-Gurren Brigade, the night of it´s foundation. The next day, well...he was brought here. He jumped onto the table, and calmed the crowd. "Quiet, my friends! One at a time!" He said, before putting on his glasses. "You asked for it, so you shall receive! A man´s powerful will, sustained by his passion, his ambition, and his unwavering resolve! It gives him the strength to overcome fate itself! When they talk about the mighty Kamina, they mean me!"

Everyone was stunned, and turned toward a smiling Siesta. "You weren´t lying, weren´t you?" someone asked, and she nodded in response. They looked at Kamina again, who was still grinning. After regaining their wits, they began cheering again. As it turned out, they were celebrating the fact that someone, anyone that belonged to the lower class was able to stand up to the aristocrats. Granted, one of the weakest members of the noblesse, but still, it was more than they had ever imagined in their entire lives.

His grin got wider. Looks like this world had some hope left in it. Good. He was asked about his origin again, and answered all questions in his usual manner. The volume of the room never sunk, but at some point, some of them began laughing, because the chef had brought their guest some freshly made food, and he was stuffing himself like there was no tomorrow.

At some point, everyone started to get tired, and slowly began leaving. Once the room was completely empty besides Kamina, the chef and Siesta, our hero let out a yawn. "Say, Marteau? Could you give me a plate of soup or something?" he asked, making the muscular man laugh weakly.

"Are you serious, Kamina? You tired me out to the point where I do not want to look at a kitchen for days!" answered the chef, but Kamina persisted. When Marteau asked why, the answer nearly made him want to choke his guest. "I will not cook for one of those brats now!" He yelled, smashing his fist onto the table. "I thought you were different! But in the end, you´re just another pawn of those nobles!"

Kamina didn´t respond at first, letting the man in front of him vent out all his frustrations about the aristocracy, their abusive nature, their arrogance, their disrespect of the commoners, every last injustice they had faced up to that point. He looked him directly in the eye the entire time. Then, when the cook was out of breath, he got his answer. "I may not owe them anything, and I despise their abuse of power as much as you do. However, they, just like us, are human. Louise and I are partners. We swore to that. And my partner is in a rather shitty state right now. So I ask you, Marteau, to help me fix it. Please."

After all that, Kamina put a hand on the chef´s shoulder, and they stared into each other´s eyes for a good while. Siesta swore she could see sparks flying between them as tensions began to rise. She gulped, and backed up into the wall. This might just end in a brawl, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Thankfully, the situation was defused as Marteau sighed and went to fill a bowl with soup. Siesta sighed in relief. When the cook returned and Kamina tried to take the bowl from the chef´s hand, he couldn´t. He still had an iron grip on it, and spoke one last thing before taking off his chef hat. "If you truly believe that you can change those brats, then try. But don´t expect anyone else to help you. Those aristocrats have been tormenting us our entire lives. We´re not as optimistic as you. Remember that."

Silently, Kamina nodded, and waited for a bit. When the chef left the room and the door closed, he still didn't budge. The maid wanted to speak, but couldn´t. She couldn´t find the right words to say it. Seconds passed in the rhythm of Marteau´s echoing footsteps. Soon, they were gone. Siesta still couldn´t speak as her friend turned around, and made his way over to the door. When he arrived there, she made a desperate leap. She needed to say something, _anything_.

But in the end, it was unnecessary. Kamina turned around and hugged her with one arm as she was still in the air. He had a grin on his face _. "Don´t worry. I know that you´ll always be my friend. I won´t forget."_ He whispered into her ear, making her eyes widen. He stroked her back a bit, calming her down. Smiling, she returned the hug. He knew exactly what she wanted to say. There was still something nagging her in the back of her head though. Something she had forgotten…

"Good night, Siesta."

"Good night, Kamina."

They parted ways at the entrance of the dining hall, both with a satisfied smile on their face. As Kamina finally started to get used to this maze, and approached Louise´s room, he heard something. Footsteps, but not of a human, they were much too light. He glanced behind himself. There was a small light following him. Did this place have ghosts? …He had no time for this shit. "Hey ghost! You wanna go?!" He shouted, probably waking up more than a few students. He got no response, and the light disappeared. "Ha! Thought so!"

He continued on his path. The tapping was gone, and didn´t return. Soon, the familiar door was in sight. The man increased his pace. He needed to deal with this as quickly as possible. Ladies shouldn´t be in turmoil. He only left her alone in the first place so that she could vent all her emotions. But now, he would help her stand up. He opened the door, and quietly approached the bed, from which light snoring could be heard. The room was dimly lit with candles. So she was asleep and never put out the candles, huh? He put the plate on the table next to her bed and went to wake her up, but was stopped by something annoying.

The bloody tapping was back. He would not let that stupid ghost ruin his moment. He stood up, and left the room again. He spoke quieter than before, but still loud enough to be heard throughout the hallway. "Alright, ghost. Just come at me, and we´ll handle this like men." And come at him it did. He was tackled to the ground, something lightly bit him in the shoulder, and dragged him off. He could barely see it, but what he did see was a small flame on the end of it´s tail. It´s long, scaly, red tail.

It only brought him through the decorated door next to Louise´s, but he quickly realized why this was literally the _worst_. The room was even less lit than Louise´s, a heavy smell polluted the air, there was a bed in the center, which was hidden by several see-through curtains. And in front of it stood a curvaceous girl with a tan, with huge, bouncing breasts, a see-through robe which did nothing to hide her choice of undergarments, and she was smiling seductively.

"Why hello, darling."

 **Welp, shit. This is the point which will either be a)funny as all hell or b)boring as all hell. Review if you have the minute to spare, and I´ll be seeing you next time. Bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright, I know you´ve been waiting for this one with a lot of pent up excitement. After all, perhaps this is the moment where the M rating is justified! Now, before you get out a certain appendage of yours, let´s answer the reviews, shall we? And with that I mean that I´ll answer them. I am lonely.**

 **Dark Avenger874: Oh, you look forward to it, you say? Winkwinknudgenudge, I getcha, buddy, winkwinknudgenudge.**

 **Don Orbit: Chamber of horror? I wouldn´t call it that. I mean, I would stay in it. I´m depraved enough to accept her offer. Come at me. Also, the fact is, if he accepts, Yoko would probably first execute Kirche, then be all cutesy with him and demand some of the D for herself, then, once he gets her pregnant, and she confirms that she´ll have a baby born of their beautiful love, she´ll castrate him. Probably twice, just for good measure.**

 **Alright, I know that some perverts out there already have their appendages in hand, so without further ado, here we go!**

Kamina was in a tight spot. And that was _not_ an innuendo. He was sitting on the floor, with a hot, barely dressed girl looming over him in a room that could only be described as a make shift sex dungeon. Let´s not kid ourselves, it was mainly the perfume. It must have cost a lot, because holy hell, it smelled good. But that was not the main focus here. Kirche was slowly advancing on our hero, taking small, deliberate steps to ensure her chest bounced as much as possible. …seriously though, was it made of rubber?! So Kamina did as a man does when presented with this situation; a horny, sexy girl his age approaching him in such a getup, there was only one thing to do.

He got up, opened the door, and left.

For but a second, Kirche just stood there. The next, Kamina was brought back by her familiar Flame. "Darling, don´t run from me. After all, my heart yearns for – " He had left again already.

After he was brought in again, she made sure to have Flame block the door. "Now, as I was saying, darling, my heart yearns for your warm embrace…!" She couldn´t finish. Again. After all, you can´t converse with someone that just jumped out the window.

Kamina was recaptured soon enough, miraculously without any injury, and this time, she made sure the window was shut, the door was blocked, and a silencing spell was cast to make sure he doesn´t call for help. "Darling, why do you insist on running away? I give you my heart, my body, and yet, you don´t accept my love. Why?" She said, trying to get into direct physical contact, which proved to be difficult as he sidestepped her every attempt to hug, and even if she did succeed, he had his arms crossed, meaning that he could easily shake her off with his superior strength.

She was starting to get frustrated. At this point, he should be fucking her like the pig that commoners are! "Okay, seriously now, what the hell is your problem?! Are you thick or something? Look at me! With these clothes, isn´t it obvious what I want you to do? Come here!" He avoided her grab again, and it was then that she saw that he had his eyes closed. Her fury multiplied by a factor of around a thousand, give or take a few million. Probably give. "So you won´t even look at me…Flame!"

The lizard sprang into action, and tackled Kamina to the ground, holding him down by literally just sitting on his stomach. As energetic as the familiar was at day, it was even lazier at night. Her haughty, seductive attitude returned once her target had been restrained. "Alright then, my darling. Now that you can´t avoid me, let me tell you something about myself. My runic name is Kirche the Ardent, reflecting my infinite passion. Of course, that makes me quite the lover, heehee…"

She went down on all fours, and slowly crawled over to him, making sure to make every tap as loud as possible. She saw just how tense he was. "Darling, you would do well to relax. All I want is for you to feel good, you know. You are the first commoner to make me feel this desire, this yearning for you. You should be proud of yourself." Kirche was close enough to touch him now, and let her fingers slowly trace his muscular figure.

"Oh my. These are simply exquisite! Tell me, where did you get them? Oh, what do I care! They feel amazing! It almost makes me want to…" The next part was inaudible due to her lips touching his abs in a light peck. He did not react. Kirche did not exactly care. She break his attitude. There was no man that could resist her. All of the boys at this school were so wimpy. No endurance at all. He would be no different. Her fingers started to near his trousers.

That is when she got her reaction. Flame was thrown away, crashing into the wall, blacking out. The lizard would be out for a while. Kamina arose, slowly and threateningly. She gulped as he towered over her. But he didn´t do anything else. He just turned around, and left. Stunned, her mind stopped working for a few moments. Once she realized what he had done, she got up and exited her room faster than light itself, and just barely managed to slap a hand on his shoulder before he entered the Zero´s room. "Why!? Just why are you so intent on ignoring me?!" she cried, gripping onto him as hard as possible. He turned his head to look at her.

" **I believe I already told you. I have this thing called a conscience. And I did say that I never wanted to see you again. Not after what you did to my par – master. Now let go."** He spoke coldly, ripping himself free from her grip and closing the door in her face. She was left speechless. She staggered back to her room, only one thought in mind.

" _He is a man among men. And I must have him."_

Kamina waited till Kirche´s door was closed, and sighed before locking the door. Finally, she had given up. He looked at Louise, who was shifting in her sleep. He noticed just how wet her pillow was from the tears she had obviously been shedding, and clenched his fists. How dare they do this to his partner? They had eradicated any sense of self-worth in her over the course of an entire year. The fact that she managed to keep up her façade of confidence was truly amazing. But it ends now. No more facades. He would teach her just who she could be. And for that, he would do the exact same thing as he once did for his brother.

He made silent steps toward her bed, and once he was there, he picked up the bowl of soup on the table. Thankfully, it was still warm. Kind of. He then lifted her upper half up, slid his legs beneath her back, and held her close. Somehow, she was still sleeping, making him marvel at how adorable she was as long as her mouth was shut. Right after that, he placed the bowl on her lap, and took a spoonful. He lightly shook her, which didn´t wake her up. As per usual. The man tried something different. He placed the spoon on her lips, and traced them with it.

Soon, her mouth opened a tiny bit, and he stuck it in. She swallowed the soup after needlessly chewing it for a while, and opened her mouth again, waiting for the next load. He gawked for a second. Since when could people eat in their sleep? Once he got over it, he took another spoonful, chuckling, and continued feeding her. After half of it was gone, it seemed as if she was starting to wake up. Her eyes opened a tiny bit, and her pupils moved to look at him.

"Familiar?" she whispered, not fully aware of the situation. Kamina shushed her, and held another spoon of soup to her mouth, ignoring her instinctual use of the wrong title. Her attention snapped toward it, as fast as it could in her sleepy state, and her head moved forward to devour the meal. He couldn´t believe what he was witnessing. He had to seriously pull on the spoon to get it out of her mouth, and when he did, the response he got mildly stunned him. "I want more."

He continued feeding her this way, awestruck at how greedily she was devouring this soup. He would ask Marteau to make some for him later, because if this was any indicator, then the quality of this meal must be somewhere up in the gods´ realm. As he scooped up the last few drops, he started chuckling at her antics. She ignored him, though, only interested in her midnight snack. She was basically fully awake at this point, although there was one thing she hadn´t noticed yet.

When she had finished the soup, he placed the bowl back on the table. It was then that she noticed the thing she´d missed up to this point, which was just how close they actually were, and that he was, in fact, holding her like a baby. She blushed a deep red, and demanded that he unhand her at once. Kamina did not obey her. "Isn´t this comfortable, Louise?" he asked, which made her blush deeper and start to struggle to get out of it.

She would not be seen in this kind of proximity with a commoner! He may be her equal, but she would not share that Zerbst´s reputation! She called him a pervert, a dog, and many other terms that were as colourful as the rainbow (at least in her book) as she continued to struggle against his firm grip.

Sighing, Kamina did eventually let go. Looks like she needed to warm up to him some more before he could treat her like that. "Alright, partner. It´s your choice. Just remember this: if you ever need someone to hold ya, you can always come to me." He said, before hopping off the bed, and hitting the hay. Literally in this case. Louise herself angrily stared at his head which poked over the bed for a while, then decided to go back to sleep, and laying her head on the pillow. His words gave her a bit to think about, although her thoughts mainly revolved around him being a dog in heat, now more than ever. And yet, there was a small voice in her head that appreciated what he had just done. It made her feel better, if just a bit. Soon after, she fell asleep again, with a full stomach this time.

When morning came, she was the first to wake. She had a weirdly good sleep that night. So after waking up her partner and immediately throwing him out so she could get dressed, they both went to the dining hall. Once they entered, it seemed as if their status had changed once again. The student body now ignored them completely, if it was out of fear or because they dismissed Kamina´s victory as a fluke, they did not know. What they did know, was that the food was delicious.

So as Louise had her fill, Kamina watching her silently, as he had finished his bread in one go. The food looked delicious, and he knew it was, as he _did_ eat food from the same chef yesterday, and he wanted to have a bite as well. His mouth watered as he peeked over the edge of the table, and saw just what was actually served. Louise noticed this, and slapped his hand. "Listen, you can eat more food later. For now, you are still my familiar. A commoner is not allowed to eat from this table, let alone in this room." She whispered to him, and grumbling to himself, the man squatted down on the ground again.

"Oooooh daaarling!"

Ah shit. Louise and Kamina grumbled as Kirche approached cheerfully. Why. Just. WHY. She giggled as she got closer, enjoying the attention that was on them. Naturally, for the two, that was not so. "What do you want, Zerbst?" Louise asked, only to be utterly ignored as Kirche focused on Kamina, who had his eyes shut and was restraining himself in every way possible so as to not just flat out yell at the germanian to piss off.

"Well, darling, since you are quite malnourished, as I can see, I thought that I might get you a proper meal for a man of your calibre." She spoke loudly, clapping her hands. "Servant!" She called, and Siesta came in with an exceptionally large tray of food. Louise´s jaw slacked. Ordering that much food would have cost Louise her entire monthly allowance! Was her nemesis insane?! Why was she doing this for Kamina in the first – oh wait. It was Zerbst.

Kamina´s eyes shot open when the smell hit his nostrils, which was inevitable due to Siesta holding the tray right beneath his nose. He stared at the amount of food presented to him, drooling slightly. The maid smiled at him, urging him to dig in. Louise tapped his shoulder. _"If you take anything Zerbst offers you, you´re dead to me."_ She whispered into his ear, and he snapped back to reality. He looked at his friend holding the tray, and motioned for her to put it back in the kitchen.

Her expression fell, and she walked away briskly. Why did he torture himself for the sake of one arrogant little girl? It pained her to see this shining paragon of a man in this state. Although, the fact that he gave himself up for what every servant believed to be a lost cause might just be an argument for that very title. Her expression turned into a smile again as she passed the tanned aristocrat, bowing to her before continuing on to the kitchen.

Kirche stared in shock. "Darling, why? I know you´re suffering of hunger! Do you hate me so much that you would reject any sign of affection I show you?" she asked, making the quiet chattering from her peers grow louder. The eyes of every male in the room was glued onto Kamina, their rage pouring from their pupils. This was getting out of hand. Louise needed to step in quickly, otherwise Kamina might actually be killed. There was no way he would be able to stand up to dozens of horny mages. As much as she wished he could, because she would bust a nut if she saw those arrogant idiots lying in the ground after her partner did just that. Bust a few nuts. Not his, though.

"Zerbst, get a clue. Can´t you see that my familiar refuses to be a part of your ridiculous _Spiel_ , as you germanians call it? In fact, since he belongs to the Vallière family, he is not even allowed to acknowledge you in any shape, way or form." She declared, standing up. She felt a small pinch on her shin when she said that he belonged to her, but she ignored it. Technically, it went against their agreement, so she let it slide. Although she would have to educate him on the relationship between master and familiar later, in a civilized, less whippy manner.

Kirche stood there for a minute, digesting in the info she had just received, and suddenly got a small, devious glint in her eye. "Oh, Vallière, is that true? Well, then I ought to tell you that he did in fact come into my bedroom last night, of his own volition." Kamina´s eyes shot open, and his gaze rapidly locked onto Louise´s expression. Suffice to say, it showed anger yet to be seen in this world. The whispers around the room got louder, and out of his peripherals, he saw some brats draw their wands and glare at him threateningly.

" **Familiar. Is that true?"**

Yep. She was _livid_. He immediately stood up for himself. "Of course not, Loui – master. Just who the hell do you think I am?! She was the one who kidnapped me as I brought you your meal!" He yelled with a deafening tone, silencing the room. But it didn´t last long. Why should the nobles believe a commoner, a loud, stupid commoner, no, a _pig_ that had attracted Kirche´s attention over Kirche herself?

"Oh Darling, why must you reject my love?" Kirche said overdramatically, holding her chest where her heart would be, obviously faking heartbreak. The boys and the mage´s friends didn´t even hide it at this point. All boys who were attracted to Kirche, which included all but a select few, among whom, funnily enough, was Guiche, drew their wands on him, whispering incantations. Louise heard various spells that would do many different things to her partner, including, but not exclusively make him wet himself, swallowing slugs, shitting himself, get a nosebleed, have his hair fall out, and vomiting slugs. How the second and the last would work together was a mystery. Well, this was it. No way that he was going to survive all that. The idiocy of horny teenagers knows no bounds, it seemed.

"Not a liar." Came a silent, monotone voice, instantly cutting off everyone´s incantations as they stared at the small blue haired girl sitting next to Kirche, reading a book. She flipped a page. "Jumped out of window yesterday. Spell to stop his fall. Salamader caught him in hallway." She stated matter-of-factly, flipping another page. Her eyes darted across the letters in the book, flipping another page seconds after. Every last person in the room was staring at her. After a while, she looked up. "What? Problem?"

All the spectators shook their heads, and she went back to reading, as if she didn´t even care. Soon after, it was decided that it was not worth fighting over a petty squabble such as this, although some extraordinarily arrogant and horny idiots kept their gaze fixated on Kamina for far too long for comfort. "Well, that just happened. Thanks a bunch!" Our hero said, patting the witness on her head.

"Stop."

He complied. There was no emotion in her tone, but he got the vibe that she was uncomfortable with physical contact. To each their own, he guessed. "Say, what´s your name? I didn´t quite catch that. After all, you _did_ save me yesterday, even though I could´ve totally handled the fall. Thanks for that too, by the way." He said, before she turned around to look him right in the eye. He returned the look without fear. Meanwhile Louise and Kirche were still arguing in the background.

"Interesting." She said, closing the book after having stared into what felt like his soul for a good minute. "Tabitha." He grinned, and held out his hand. She stared at it, and finally took it after seemingly an eternity. He shook her hand with vigor.

"The name´s Kamina. Nice to meet´cha!" He spoke confidently, letting go of her hand after. For once, he didn´t do his usual shtick for his introduction. Because while he didn´t mind if she laughed at him, he _really_ didn´t want to break up the two arguing behind him right now. It would only result in more attempted seductions, and he was _not_ in the mood for that at the moment. Actually, he was never in the mood for that sort of bullshit. She stared at her hand after the handshake again for a second or two, and opened her book after. "Not the talkative type, huh?" She nodded. "Anyways, with the way you addressed the tanned one, you are friends with her, right?" Another nod. "Huh. Wouldn´t have guessed that in a million years."

"Hate her?" She inquired, still in that monotonous tone. She might have caught on because he refused to address her friend with her actual name. He answered with a grim nod. "Why?" She continued, and he sighed.

"You see what they´re doing right now?" She turned to look, and as expected, they were arguing louder and louder. Tabitha nodded. "Well, rivalry is good and all, but the tanned one keeps on belittling my partn – master and breaking her self-confidence into pieces. As long as she doesn´t realize that what she is doing is wrong and apologizes for it of her own volition, there is no way I´ll waste any breath on her."

Tabitha soaked up his words like a dry sponge. A small glint appeared in her eyes, though he couldn´t see it because of the reflection in her glasses. "Interesting." She spoke, closing her book once again. "Not like the others. Origin?" She questioned, making him mildly nervous. The curiosity in her voice, coupled with the nearly robotic tone felt creepily inquisitive. It´s like he was being questioned by the chieftain after one of his rebellions. If the chieftain were threatening in the slightest, that is.

"Not today. Just as a side-note, should we do something about those two?" He answered, pointing at the two mages that had drawn their wands at this point. She waved her own staff at them in response to his question, and their wands were blown away by a gust of wind, flying through the entire room before landing right in her open book. The dining hall was saved. "Well, that´s convenient. Anyways, we have stuff to do, so if you would, can I have that wand back right away?" He asked, pointing at said wand. Nodding, she handed it to him. When he tried to take it from her, she demanded one last thing before he left.

"Story. Promise." Kamina chuckled, and swore on his position in the Brigade. She let go of the stick, and he turned around. He gave Louise her wand back, and as they passed a stunned Kirche (which they ignored), they had a small back and forth about his interaction with the top student of the Academy. Once they left the hall, Kirche leaped to her friend, demanding to know what they talked about. Ignoring her for the most part, Tabitha read her book, having hid Kirche´s wand in her cape. The only answer she gave was this: "Private."

And the germanian sighed as she realized that she would not get anything else out of her, no matter how much she prodded. Deciding that stalking Kamina to find out about their plans was a much better idea, she demanded to get her wand back, which she did (albeit with a lot of bartering, having to agree to buy multiple books for the smaller girl once she got her allowance back), she ran off behind her target.

Kirche snuck behind them like a spy or something, silent as a snake as they made their way through the building. She didn´t know why, but she had the urge to find a box and hide under it for maximal stealthiness. She overheard the pinkette telling the man that there were no classes for the day, as it was the Day of the Void, and he seemed rather content with that. The next bit the tanned girl only caught in part, as they went around a corner after that, but she was sure that she heard the words ´sword´, ´buy´, and ´capital´.

Wasting no time, she darted back to Tabitha. She needed to borrow her dragon. Anything the little pest bought, she would trump it! She would buy him the best sword in the entire damn country, nay, the entire world! She giggled to herself as she imagined him falling heads over heels for her as she presented him a claymore, fit to cleave a fully armored knight in half with one swing. What she forgot was her rather low budget at this point. That breakfast basically ripped half her savings from her wallet.

Meanwhile, the two who were being tailed up until a second ago stopped in their tracks, and looked at each other. "I have a bad feeling about this." They said in unison. After that, their minds halted for a second, and then they began roaring with laughter, ignoring any kind of public decency. That was just too perfect. When they were done, Louise began explaining, completely out of breath, how they would have to settle for something that was preferably cheap, as her allowance did not allow for many non-scholarly expenses.

It was only to cover her meals, and from time to time, the ingredients for potions and the like. Kamina was not really bothered about that. He was only interested in one thing, and that was getting a sword, but not just any sword. A sword that showed his status as the Dai-Gurren Brigade´s leader, his unbending will that never broke, and most of all, it needed to be sharp enough so he could cut boulders in half.

While she explained their financial situation in more detail, they arrived at a hut, which was in a courtyard that had a large gateway that led out into a large forest. Naturally, as Kamina had never seen a tree in his lifetime, having lived underground/in a wasteland, his attention was immediately fixated on it. It was beautiful. So this is how the world looked like when the Ganmen didn´t exist. It was teeming with life. He heard many, many different birds sing, and he closed his eyes to listen closely.

There was such a huge variety in their singing, and yet it blended together to form a wonderful orchestra that tickled his ears, and in the music, he found them, the wonders of Mother Nature. He could feel the sense of freedom of those that darted through the air, of others he felt the care that was only found in a mother´s heart for her child, and finally, he felt another, far more disturbing thing. He couldn´t place what kind of creature it came from, but he could tell that it was on the hunt. Not to survive, no, it had no need for the others´ flesh. **But for sport.**

His train of thought was interrupted when Louise brought out a weird creature from the hut, which had four muscular legs, a long head, and a beautiful brown coat which was accentuated by it´s blonde mane. He stared at it, and it stared right back. "His name is Charlie. Uh, Kamina? What are you doing?" Louise spoke, but was ignored as a staring contest began between man and beast. Sparks flew between their eyes. They each stomped on the ground once, trying to intimidate the other into submission.

The girl sighed, and let go of the reins, leaning against the stable´s wall as she waited for this ridiculous competition to end. As it turned out, the horse and the man kept this up for quite a while, ten minutes at the very least. She had begun gazing at the sky at that point, looking for clouds with weird shapes. She had found one in the shape of a sheep, one that looked like a sheep, and finally, she recognized a sheep…okay, they were all just very fluffy clouds and she didn´t know that many fluffy animals, but who cares.

The two idiots ended their fight in a stalemate, having somewhat of a newfound respect for each other. The noble wasted no time in mounting the horse and getting her partner on it as well, before another silly idea could pop into his head. Like racing the animal. That would just be stupid. So of course, when they had ridden about half the way, he got an epiphany, jumped off, and the race to the capital was on. She didn´t even care at this point, concentrating fully on riding this damnable horse, although that was not necessary, as it was a straight line to the city at this point, and looking at it, it was clear that this animal knew the end goal anyways, and would race her stupid familiar there.

She was not exactly used to it, but she had come to expect only the most impractical, ridiculous actions from her familiar. What next? Would he assault an aristocrat of really high rank in his home because of an attractive girl or something? Actually, she realized that that might just be what he does if given the chance. She would need to stop that at any cost.

Those thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind when the group exited the forest, and a large, sprawling city came into view. Kamina was awestruck, but was too focused on the contest to really appreciate it. Besides, if this was any indication, then what was inside those walls would be really, _really_ pretty. And like hell he would slow down to admire the outside beauty. The inside was what mattered. Also, there was the race.

However, their trip would be dampened by a big shadow that was tailing them. If they were to look up, they might just spot a blue dragon right above them, on which Kirche and Tabitha were seated, one bored and immersed in her lecture, the other closely watching them.

"Just you wait, Zero. By the end of this day, he will be mine!"

 **And here it is, all nice and wrapped up! Will this play out as Kirche planned? Or will something unexpected happen? Probably not. Not this early, anyways. Ah, but who am I kidding, I always come up with weird bullshit to make this more interesting! Review if you wish, and I will possibly/hopefully/definitely(or else) see you next time. Also, I will not apologize for dat cockblock. Deal with it. Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Let´s go!**

 **Don´t worry, my friends, I am the answerer of reviews! References. They´re funny. Even if they are random butchered quotes of a german guy in a robosuit that has a giant hammer. And feels sad in ze morning.**

 **samuraimaster1776: Thank you for showing such enthusiasm/appreciation for this, in my opinion, still budding blossom of a story. Also, you lied. You are neither following this story, nor have you favorited it. The mighty Kamina is angry. He thirsts for vengeance. Or revenge. Or, even worse, REVENGEANCE.**

 **Man, I sound like an arrogant fuckboy now that I read this again. Cut out that last part.**

 **Don Orbit: OH GOD I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THAT PART XD. Thanks for reminding me of that, I just** _ **have**_ **to rip that off somehow. I´ll find a way…also, the apology was a joke. Generally, if I talk about the birds and the bees it´s either for a joke or because I´m a sexually depraved pervert and I´m lonely and no one loves me except my Waifu-chan body pillow.**

 **WAIFU-CHAN! I NEED SNUGGLES!**

 **maybeUnpopular: Yeah, love on first sight also doesn´t really do it for me. It´s like salad, in a way. Sure, it´s okay for moving along to the good stuff, but I fucking HATE salad. It´s so bland and unimaginative. On top of that, it´s so overused that I cannot have any more of it.**

 **Love at first sight is romantic and all, but in terms of storytelling? It´s boooooring. No drama, no tension, NO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. YOU KNOW, THE REASON WE COME TO THIS SITE IN THE FIRST PLACE. To see how characters evolve in the fanmade scenario in comparison to the canon one.**

 **I´ve talked about salad too much. I need some bacon. Excuse me.**

…

 **What, still here? Oh yeah, I almost forgot! The story! Action!**

After entering the city and handing Charlie to one of the stables at the entrance, Kamina and Louise took their time in looking for a weapon shop. For one, because Kamina needed some time to take in this huge, bustling mass of people. The largest group he´d seen so far was the dining hall at breakfast, and that did not come close to this. The fact that this many humans could live together was mindblowing for our hero. The other reason for them not being in a hurry was Louise´s mental exhaustion.

She had witnessed a staring contest between her familiar, which was a grown man for Founder´s sake, and a horse, a race to this city between the very same competitors, needed to endure the man and the animal pestering a nearby guard for an eternity about who got here first, and even though it was impressive that there even was room for argument as to who got through the gate first, the spat lasted for _far too long_. Since each time the guard was intimidated by one of them to admit they arrived first, the other would threaten him into supporting them, it was an unending cycle, until they finally settled on a draw. Again.

And to top it all off, the cherry on this wonderful ice cream void, the look in their eyes when that stupid horse was brought into the small hut was so easily deciphered. There would be a rematch on the way back. If she wasn´t a proud member of the Vallière household, she would have broken down right then and there. However, as her status, and the Rule of Steel that came with it, prohibited her to do exactly that, she settled on dragging him away by the ear, ignoring his indignant protests that drew attention to them, making her face go increasingly red due to her shame and anger toward her partner.

As they got closer to the big crowd, Louise let him go, under the premise that he would not, under any circumstance, draw attention to himself. Being the man he was, Kamina declared that he would do as she wished. However, being the man he is, he said it loud enough that all eyes of the (thankfully small amount of) people were on them. Just. Great.

So naturally, the mage face palmed at the sheer stupidity that her famili – partner seemed to possess. "I´m getting a headache…" she mumbled to herself, rubbing her forehead. And so it was that they were wading through the masses as slow as possible, an experience that made Kamina do a double take each time they got a block closer to the city center, as the available space shrank with every step they took. Louise knew that it might be better to get this over quickly because she had a feeling that her migraine would only worsen the longer this took, but seeing how he acted right now, she would probably lose him in the crowd.

And she did _not_ want him to do another grand shoutout to find her. That would literally make her dignity implode on itself and her partner explode. With a little help from her good friend, Monsieur Wand, of course. But right as the crowd was becoming too dense for comfort, she spied a certain sign hanging in an alleyway. It was like a blessing from the Founder. It read:

 **\- Weapons for brave warriors -**

 **(suggestions for a better name will be paid for)!"**

Alright, that was either the funniest thing she had seen today or the stupidest. And the title of stupidest was very strongly contested by Kamina. In the end, she settled on funniest, mainly because this did not really shame her. She poked him in the side to break him out of his trance, and pointed at the sign. Of course, he couldn´t read it, thank the Founder. She quickly filled him in on what it said, keeping her composure as she did and leaving out the brackets. She did not need him to burst out laughing right now. Once they got into the alley, Louise wasted no time in shooing Kamina inside the shop, and telling him to just look around while she talked with the shopkeeper.

She made sure to tell him to _not touch anything._ If he found something interesting, he had to come to her so she could have a look at it. Like hell would she let him break half the weapons in the shop and make her pay for them. So she walked up to the counter, where a man about her size was snoozing, and cleared her throat loudly to wake him up. He didn´t. She repeated her action, only louder, with the same result. Her expression reflected her growing frustration.

Gosh, these commoners could really take it easy, huh? Louise tried to get him up with a different trick, by clapping her hands her hands together right near his slightly misshapen ear. This made the man shoot up and squeak around in a frenzy, until he noticed the furious aristocrat in front of him. Kamina watched in slight amusement, and made a mental note to try that tomorrow.

"I´m sorry, Miss! Let me make up my rudeness to you! This shop has a reputation to protect as an honest business, so allow me to show you my best piece, for a reduced price of course!" He squeaked, bowing before running off behind some curtains behind him. Louise sighed in annoyance. She knew that this couldn´t be an honest business because a)it was in an alleyway, b)that guy had so little customers he could just take a nap in broad daylight, when he should be flooded with customers and finally, c)that sign. Besides, she knew that he would try and sell her some worthless piece of garbage that was completely rusted or…okay, that was a golden claymore. With gemstones. _Lots of gemstones_.

She was speechless as she admired this beautiful sword. Yes, that would be the only armament befitting a familiar of the Vallière family. Her mouth began to water. "This sword was made by a germanian noble that was renowned for his skill in earth magic." Okay, the fact that it was a germanian who forged it made it automatically decrease in value for her, by about 75%, to be precise. But she couldn´t deny the masterful artisanship that the craftsman possessed. "Of course, only a blade such as this is befitting of a noble such as you. And since I had the audacity to trouble you, I will lower the price from 10000 gold to only 3000."

And there it was, the giant slap in the face she knew was coming. There was simply no way that this sword would go for cheap. And the fact that she would never in her stay at the Academy get enough money to buy that made her even angrier. "Are you serious? With that kind of money, not only could you buy an entire estate, you would be able to buy enough servants to run it and feed all of you for at least 3 years!" She cried, but the shopkeeper didn´t budge. She bartered and bartered, but he didn´t flinch once. He was a skilled haggler, that was for sure.

"Hey, L – master? Could you come over here?"

And all her rage focused on her annoyingly stupid, interfering partner. "What is it, familiar?" She retorted in a voice that clearly showed her current frustration. And Kamina kept calm, and held up a sword he found in a barrel, stating that he would like that one. "…Please, _please_ tell me you´re joking." She answered, pleading to the Founder that he did not actually want the old, rusty, cracked, weirdly shaped sword. Of course, her deity was nothing against Kamina´s unbending will who answered that yes indeed, he wanted the old, rusty, cracked katana.

When she turned to the shopkeeper, he smiled, with a small hint of greed still in his expression. "500 écus." He said. Louise´s expression hardened. "No more than 50." The vendors smile shrank a bit. "350." With a smirk on her face, Louise rebutted with a firm "60." The vendor had no more smile on his face. "300, my last word." And then the noble offered something he simply couldn´t refuse. "65, and in addition, I´ll recommend your other offer to my germanian… _acquaintance_."

With no hesitation, the deal was made, and they walked out of the shop together, Louise sighing in relief that she managed to spend such a small amount for her partner´s sword. Even if the sword was, in her (not very) humble opinion, not even worth that much, and was only fit for the smelter. But seeing Kamina´s happy expression helped her ignore her urges to use that blunt blade to slit his throat, followed by her wrist. "So, Kamina, why did you want that one specifically?" She inquired, as he seemed way too happy to have acquired an essentially useless sword. Even if the hilt had a quite snazzy decoration attached to it.

"Well, Louise, an excellent question! For you see, this blade is nearly identical to the one I used in my time as the leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade! So obviously, this is the only weapon I know how to maintain properly." He spoke, thankfully silent enough, minding her very obvious distaste for his outbursts, which he got to know earlier through a close encounter with Monsieur Wand. Because of her dear friend´s good influence, she made him agree that he had to quiet down when they were in public together, as his actions reflect on her.

Back to the point, Louise looked at the sword, which he was holding on his shoulder, in mild interest, before questioning him about the fact that he used a sword against giant ´mechas´ in the first place. It was kind of unbelievable. And _not_ in the good way, like the fact that he managed to beat some sense into Guiche. More in the sense that she literally couldn´t believe that someone would do something so reckless, or rather, idiotic. It was a literal impossibility, and she would have to witness it herself to believe it.

As they bickered, Kamina insisting that he actually was manly/insane enough to challenge a giant robot with only a sword, as he told her as much in his story, and Louise denying the fact that even he could be that insane, and thus throwing his whole story into doubt, they took note of an alarming detail. Kirche was stood right in front of them smirking, arms crossed, and the two of them tried their best to ignore her as they passed and continued to argue.

Of course, it wouldn´t be that easy, as she grabbed hold of Kamina´s arm, and glanced at the sword. "Oh dear. Darling, why do you still tolerate the Zero? Have you not seen the utter garbage she has bought you?" She said, making sure to get as close as possible to him as she could as she spoke, infuriating his partner quite a bit, although, since they were in public, she remained composed, though the very same made her even more ashamed to have to be associated with this horny pig which was trying to seduce Kamina in _plain view of the whole crowd_.

"Zerbst, would you be so kind and let go of my familiar? It was his decision as to which sword I would gift him, and on top of that, it was also his decision to have you, and I quote: "Piss off and never return into my sight." So if you really care about him, how about you honor his wishes?" Louise stated coldly, though the fact that she was being ignored completely kind of ruined her demanding speech. In fact, it only seemed to make the other mage try to force even more physical contact between herself and Kamina, who looked more and more like he wanted to test out his new sword.

And as much as Louise would have loved to see that, she wouldn´t allow it. She pinched his hand that was not being forced between the germanian´s breasts, and he acknowledged her request by clenching his fist. So Louise attempted to come up with something to get her off, and after remembering the shop keeper, she smirked. "Oh yeah, by the way, Zerbst, in the shop we got this sword from, there was also this germanian blade. The vendor said that it was his best piece, but because it was so absurdly made, my familiar decided to instead buy something more befitting of himself. But since you care so much about him, how about you go ahead and buy it for him, and prove that germanian craftsmanship is superior to this ´garbage´, as you put it?" She asked which immediately got her bully´s attention.

"Oh my, Zero. Aren´t you the one who is supposed to care for her familiar? Oh, darling, your wish is my command! Come, Flame!" And with that, the tanned girl took off, the fire salamander shimmying behind her. Once it noticed that Kamina was giving it the harshest glare imaginable to the lizard´s tiny brain, it tripled it´s speed. After a while, the two had disappeared. Louise made Kamina follow her quickly, and they ran to the stable as fast as possible. It was a few minutes later, when Kirche was in the center of the city, that she noticed the fatal flaw in her master plan. She did not know the name of the shop.

" _DAMN YOU HINDSIGHT!"_

Once the two arrived at the stable, Louise ordered the guard to get Charlie out of the hut, and the second that he was out, did she mount him and took off, knowing that her partner wanted to race the animal. As she made her mount charge out of the gate, Kamina keeping up with equal speed (which still baffled her and the onlookers), she noticed a certain blue haired student sitting right outside the gate, nestled in a curled up blue dragon, reading a book. When Tabitha saw the two, she gave a small wave, to which Kamina responded with a quick salute before focusing on the race again. And in turn, Tabitha turned her attention back to the book, not caring about the questioning of the passerbys, who gave up soon after anyways.

It took them only half as long to get back to the Academy in comparison to the trip to the city, and they were greeted by an empty courtyard. Louise got off from Charlie, and told Kamina that she would be in her room, which she assumed he heard, though there was no way to tell, as he was once again ´arguing´ with the horse about who got in first. Honestly, for all she could tell, it was a draw. AGAIN.

The noble decided that she needed some tea. Because the retarded nature of her afternoon had given her the _worst_ migraine imaginable. As amazing as Kamina was for turning Guiche into a guy who could actually admit that he was wrong, he more than made up for that in his stupidity. Or manliness. She just couldn´t decide which it was. Probably the former. Manliness doesn´t give your partners headaches.

Later, after she had studied in her room with a nice cup of tea in hand, she thought that it might be smart to look for her partner. It would be dinnertime soon. Thinking of where he might be, she took a look out the window. Good, the horse was where it belonged. Leaving the cup for a servant to deal with, Louise left the room to look for him. It took her quite a while, but when she found him, she was rather surprised to see him in the WC, caring for his new sword.

He was wiping it with a damp cloth, which was soaked in oil, from what she could tell. The blade was still lightly cracked in places, but surprisingly, the rust was completely gone. It was now a shining, silver sword. When she opened her mouth to ask him how he managed that feat in such a small amount of time, something else interrupted her.

"Ahhh, I haven´t felt this good in ages! Thanks, partner!"

…did the sword just talk?

"No sweat, Derf! Though I can´t exactly get rid of those cracks in you, so we might need to see a smith for that."

Yep, he was talking to the blade.

"No need, partner. I may look brittle, but I´ve got a lot of fight left in me! The mighty Derflinger does not simply break, not even after five thousand years without proper maintenance!"

There it was, the decoration on the handle seemed to be it´s mouth. She was petrified, staring at this weird scene of a man and a sword having a conversation like they knew each other for decades.

"Well, well, well! We will make a great team! So Derf, to get back to the story, you were in that brothel, and then that guy came in…" Kamina urged on his new friend, who clicked his tongue (?) as it seemed to remember something.

"Ah yes, indeed! So, as I was saying, my partner at the time was a part of the oldest of industries, and she was quite the looker, if I do say so myself! So, one night, after the shop had closed down, and I got to play the role of the shoulder, or in my case hilt, to cry on, because she was never getting rich, wasteful nobles as clients. So then, all of a sudden, this tall asshat walks in, looking all rich and shit. Now, he demanded her services, and after she put me away into a corner, they, well, did it. So then, when he was supposed to cough up what he was due, the guy wormed his way out of it. He told her to become his mistress." The sword spoke, making the expression of both Louise and Kamina fall. They knew what was coming. Kamina was so enraged that his hand unconsciously squeezed out all the oil from the cloth he was holding.

"Now, she agreed immediately after he promised her good pay in his mansion, but obviously, life would not be that nice. She was mistreated by him, the guards, and she was the only servant in the entire mansion, from what we could tell. Eventually, he got bored of her, and threw her into his dungeon. I was sold to the stupid weapon shop. And that was the last I saw of her. Her beautiful smile, the one filled with hope for better days…I´ll never forget that, not for as long as I live. And one day, partner, I want us both to pay that guy a visit. And gut him." And with that, the man´s grip on the hilt tightened as he held the blade into the sky. Kamina seemed to be smiling, and silently chuckled.

"Derf, give me the name and we´re good to go."

Louise got some terrible flashbacks to her worries from this afternoon, before she was ripped from her thoughts. "By the way, who´re Miss Pinky and Madame Maid over there?" Derf said, and Louise seized up as Kamina´s gaze fell on her. And in her peripherals, she saw the maid Kamina called a friend do the same. When she got here, the mage did not know. She was too engrossed in the story. And judging from the maid´s tears, so was she.

"Oh, that? That would be my partner and my friend. Derf, meet Louise, Louise, meet Derf, Siesta, meet Derf, Derf, meet Siesta, Siesta, meet Louise, Louise, meet Siesta, Derf, meet Derf, Siesta, meet Siesta, Louise, meet…hang on." Kamina introduced the three in rapid succession, so quickly in fact, that his head began to spin after the sixth introduction. It lifted the mood, and they had a good laugh at the mighty Kamina´s expense. Naturally, he was slightly miffed, but didn´t care all too much about it.

"Nice to meet you, Mister Derf. My name is Siesta." The maid eventually introduced herself, bowing. The sword somehow, inexplicably, whistled.

"This fair maiden is one of the sweetest packages I´ve seen for quite a while, polite, can do housework, and looks simply beautiful. Well, I can assume that you meant that she is _that_ kind of partner, right?" It whispered to Kamina, who did as a man did in this situation. He slammed the blade back into it´s sheath, shutting it up.

"Gotta disappoint you there, Derf. Just friends." Kamina stated, making Siesta blush a deep red as she realized what the sword must have said to him.

"Wha – wha – what!?" She cried out embarrassed, before going on to stammer the rest of the air in her lungs away. Here is but a taste. "NoMisterDerfwe´renotlikethatImeanit´snotlikeIdislikeKaminabutI´mnotreadyforsucharelationshipIneedtospeaktomyfamilyabouthisI´msorry!" You get the idea. She finished after a good minute of uninterrupted rambling, which resulted in her being completely out of breath and nearly blacking out from a lack of oxygen, and wide eyes of both Kamina and Louise. Judging from the way Derf´s ´mouth´ was positioned, his jaw was slacked to the point where it nearly broke the hinges.

"Okay, so that just happened. So, Miss Pinky is your partner, then?" Derf tried for the second time, before his non-existent ears began bleeding because of a screech that was high-pitched enough to break glass.

"Miss Pinky?! I´ll have you know that I am a member of the Vallière family, the most prestigious family in all of Tristain, you stupid sword! Show some respect for your master! Hmph!" Louise screamed, before crossing her arms after her rant.

"Yeah, should have told you about that. I called her Pinky too, and I got the same treatment. Actually, it was the exact same lecture last time, too. Weird." Kamina whispered to the sword, who acknowledged it with a silent "Huh. That _is_ weird."

"Okay, I promise to not call you Pinky. If I had a hand, I would say we make a…wait for it… _pinky promise_!" After Kamina shoved him into the sheath as punishment for that horrible pun, causing the sword to make noises akin to drowning, and Louise was given permission to whip it later, Derf was allowed to continue. "Haaaaa…okay then, _Mistress Vallière_ , just why do you call myself my master?" Derf asked, making Louise shift nervously. She could say that Kamina was her familiar, but that might backfire, seeing as he did not want to be called that. But a nod from the man made her nervousness dwindle.

"Kamina is my familiar, so obviously, I´m your – " she spoke, but was interrupted by Derf´s surprised outburst.

"Familiar?! Where?! Who?! Runes?!" He yelled, and if he could move, he would probably turn around to look at Kamina. "If he´s your familiar, then that means…!" It stopped himself, not wanting to reveal the last part, apparently. "Ahem, sorry for the outburst. So, if my partner here is your familiar, then could you tell me where the runes are?" The sword continued to question, making her confidence break away again.

"Um, maid, could you…?" Louise asked in a half commanding, half suggesting tone, motioning for Siesta to leave. And she nearly complied, were it not for Kamina intervening.

"Louise, be nice. Call her by her name." He ordered, and the mage just stared. Just why would she have to call a servant – whatever. It was simpler if she just did as he asked.

"Uh, Miss Siesta, could you leave, please? The next part is…private." She asked again, awkwardly shifting as she did as all her commanding attitude vanished from her voice, being replaced by a nervous, more pleading tone. Siesta gawked. Were her ears alright? Because she could swear that Kamina just managed to make a noble be respectful to a commoner.

She shook herself from her trance once she noticed the weird look the aristocrat was giving her, and smiled. "Of course, Miss Vallière. I only wanted to remind my friend that dinner will be served in a few minutes anyways, but I guess that there is no more reason for doing so. Goodbye." The maid said with a bow, before turning on her heel and leaving. Louise noticed the unevenness in the maid´s steps, and the way her clenched fists seemed to be trembling. Something was off. Oh well. It can´t be that bad. What worries could a commoner truly have?

Turning back to the duo, she began explaining their partnership to the sword, who listened intently. "So to summarize, you summoned my partner here, never put the runes on him because of him not being half the familiar you expected, then he beat up a cheating idiot, and then you decided to explain to him how the whole system works, essentially guaranteeing that he would never let the runes get on him. Am I right?" It spoke, making Louise nod timidly. "Well, sorry to say, but that technically makes you the biggest failure of a mage I´ve ever seen." Her expression fell. Even the sword was bullying her. She was about to let Monsieur Wand give it a nice, explosive beatdown when it continued.

"But it´s a good failure! Who cares about the runes anyway? By making him your equal, you broke the system itself! I haven´t seen anyone do that since…my birth, actually. Possibly because everyone throws morals out the window for ´tradition´, the bloody fools. Well, looks like you´re the first one to ever do it. Congrats!" Derf added, making Louise do a double take. She wanted so badly to cheer and pat herself on the shoulder, as it is probably what the sword would have done had it had limbs, but stopped herself. She had some dignity as a noble, and such an outburst would dishonour her family.

"A – anyways, it´s time for dinner now. Let´s go, Kamina." Louise finished the conversation, trying to conceal her joy at being praised, her steps being more confident than usual, but her face never betrayed her true feelings, just looking like it usually did, with the tiny bit of nervous added on top. The mage then got on her way to the dining hall, her partner following with a bucket, in which he had placed the cloth used to clean up Derf. When they entered, he went off to return the bucket, and soon after, he came back with a large tray of food, all for him and him alone. He took a seat on the floor next to his partner, ready to dig in.

Louise let him go ahead, as she was also rather hungry. She quickly said her prayer to the Founder, and began eating. It was quite delicious today, even for the ludicrously high standards that the chef had managed to get the student body accustomed to through his own talent. She wondered why it was so delicious today. It´s as if the universe was trying to lull her into a false sense of security…OH DEAR FOUNDER, WHAT WILL HE DO? After she and Kamina were done with their meals (and long, detailed prayers to her god that he please stop whatever her partner would do), they decided to go to sleep early today.

He returned his tray, and together, they went back to the room, where the man immediately lay down on his bed, placing Derf next to himself, before being thrown out so Louise could change into her sleeping gown. Once he was allowed inside, he threw himself onto the hay, and fell asleep instantly. The only thing to do, really, after a day like that. The mage looked at him for a bit, the careless expression he wore as he slept, but closed her eyes soon after. She couldn´t sleep, though. Not with him snoring like that.

"Kamina, stop sno – "

It was the sword. It was the Founder-be-damned sword. Kamina was watching it too, with the most annoyed expression she´d ever seen on his face. He held out a hand, and she more than readily lent him one of her many pillows, her expression matching his. She didn´t waste 65 écus on the damn weapon so it could snore her sleep away. The next moment, he shoved it onto the snoring sword, making the sound much more bearable. Sighing, they went to sleep again. They couldn´t, as the door opened, and a servant entered.

"Why are you here?" She asked with a huge hint of annoyance in her voice. If you didn´t solve the riddle with that hint, aka the fact that she was trying to sleep and you were interrupting, you would probably be a little slow in the head. Thankfully, the servant was smart enough to figure it out(a huge achievement, of course), and left the second he retrieved the cup from the desk, after having apologized for depriving her of rest and wishing her a good night.

So the two once again closed their eyes, letting some of their tension flow out of their nostrils with every breath they let out. Soon, they would be asleep. Not a single thing could be heard from the hallway for a good ten minutes, and at this point, they doubted that they could even hear it. They were on the verge of unconsciousness, nearly sleeping. And since the world was such a huge piece of shit, it was at that moment that they were interrupted, by the door flying open, again.

"Daaaaaarliiiiiiiiiiiing!"

"GODFUCKING DAMN IT!"

 **And thus, Kirche does it again. I swear, this is like the third chapter in row where she takes the spotlight in the last bit. Kamina should seriously do something about that. He might lose his position as MC *gasp*.**

 **No seriously, gasp now. It has a much better effect when you do it as well.**

 **Also, Louise has a headache now. With my plans for the next chapter, that will be just** _ **fine**_ **. Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahargh! *cough* I need some water *cough***

 **Anyways, review if you want/don´t want me to very politely ask you to, and I´ll be seeing you. Bye!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sup, guys! It´s ya boy congresscrab, coming at ya with a new, fresh, delicious chapter! And boy howdy, this one´s a doozy. Great ending.**

 **Alright, let´s get serious before hopping into the reviews. The reason this took so long was because, if you click my name up there ^, you´ll see that I am writing two stories right now. Basically, I decided to focus on one crossover at a time, so when a certain point in the story is reached which can be qualified as a season finale, I will leave it there and work on the other. So, now that we´re back in business, let´s just get right to the reviews!**

 **Tobor: Wait, a human who cannot emote correctly, and has to use emojis instead for showing actual emotions? Are you…Tabitha? Holy shit, I never thought a character out of one of my stories would review it! And with such a sarcastic undertone, too! How did you learn how to use the internet? In fact, how did you get here? Wait, I know. This is not the real world at all. Well, since this means that the real world is officially anime, I guess I´ll just pull an anime move.**

 **AHEM. Dearest Tabitha, will you marry me? I know that we´ve never seen each other before, but I have seen many pictures of you, and think that you´re beautiful. Even if most of those were nudes. Ignore that last part.**

… **how do I come up with this shit?**

 **Don Orbit: She should. She really should lock that door. Only evil seems to come through at night. Also, don´t hate on Leeron. He´s my waifu/husbando/objecte. …actually, no, he isn´t. I just really like the way he creeps out the protagonists. Except Yoko. Because she´s familiar with fingers, if ya know what I´m saying winkwinknudgenudge.  
Actually, why did I say that? There is no joke here. It´s literally just that Yoko is used to Leeron´s schtick. Besides, I doubt that anyone would kill her, because the difference between her and Leeron is that she actually is popular, and lets others get some. Although…**

 **LordGhostStriker: I do believe you can read. He pulled them out of his pockets. I just like to think that Kamina has either a)an endless supply in some pocket of his pants b)that his pocket is just a metaphor for his ass, and he literally shits manly glasses, or c)he just took them off for the battle and put them there, because I dunno, AN ORANGE FILTER MAY JUST IMPEDE YOUR SIGHT, WHICH YOU DO NOT WANT IN A FIGHT. Although we are talking about Kamina, so he actually might not care about that last reason.**

 **So, with that out of the way, let´s get into it! Action!**

Louise had no idea how she got into this mess. One minute, she was lying in bed, nearly asleep, the next she was standing in Vestri Court, awkwardly holding Derf as Kamina stated the rules for the duel that she was to have with Zerbst. Earlier, when things were simpler, the duo being nearly asleep and having just enjoyed a wonderful meal, Zerbst decided to ruin their evening completely by barging into their room, having no respect for privacy, demanding that Kamina accept her gift, which was the overpriced, ornate, golden sword that they had not bought earlier that very same day. How in the name of the Founder she got her hands on it, Louise would never know. Knowing Zerbst, she did the shop keeper a ´favor´ in exchange for it. Her face reddened slightly at the thought. Brimir knows that´s the only time a girl will ever be willing to do something like that with that shady man. Even if that girl has little to no respect for the implications of s – sex. She couldn´t even think about the word without stuttering. How one stutters in their own head, was a mystery to the pink haired mage.

But right now, she had to focus on the duel. After all, the condition that Kamina gave for accepting Zerbst´s gift and therefore her advances was that she beat Louise in a duel. Of course, at first, the germanian laughed haughtily, stating that "The Zero will never beat me in a straight up duel!" because of her lacking prowess in the practical department. Being a proud individual, Louise felt the slight need to blow up Zerbst just to show her how ´lacking´ an explosion felt up close, and though she knew Kamina would have supported it with all his heart, mainly because of his love for explosions, she decided against it, as she actually liked her room. Also, she had only one sleeping gown, and judging from all the torn uniforms in her closet, it would be a bad idea to try to cast any spell as long as she was wearing it.

But Kamina, smart as he was (it hurt her head to think that, even more so because of her already existing migraine), told the two mages that the duel would not be fought with magic, but instead the swords they bought. After all, the winner´s sword would be proven to be superior to the other at that point. And whilst the logic was somewhat flawed, as Louise always thought that the wielder´s prowess wins the duel, not the quality of the blade, Zerbst immediately agreed, stating that her claymore would instantly cleave through the pitifully cracked weapon that was Derf. Oh, and had she mentioned that the sword was still snoring in her hand? Yeah, this would turn out _just_ fine.  
And so here she was, awkwardly holding Derf like she would her wand, and though he was surprisingly light, the fact that he was cracked did nothing to boost her confidence going into this fight. But to be fair, Zerbst was having a similar problem, although to a lesser extent, as she had the claymore hoisted on her shoulder. It was at this point that Louise lost all faith. The germanians were barbaric, granted, but in this sort of battle, that actually came in handy. Zerbst came from a prominent militaristic family, and obviously had been trained in hand-to-hand combat, while Louise, as a Tristanian, had been educated in more important matters, such as manners and the basics of the Brimiric faith, essentially everything she needed to know to succeed in this Academy, nay, the world. She could feel the disappointment of her mother, even when she was miles away. She would never approve a loss against a germanian, much less a Zerbst. The rivalry between their families was rather vicious, and if the two countries ever went to war, the two would be the first to clash, as their estates lay right on the border. Her sloppy stance became even worse as she felt the weight that came with her blood begin to push her down. Her opponent, on the other hand, was completely calm, and exuded confidence like no other.

 **Rule of Steel.** No. She would never lose to her. Zerbst was following Louise´s creed better than the Tristanian herself, and that was unacceptable. Straightening herself out, she held Derf up higher, levelling the blade with her opponent´s chest. That would be the approximate point the swords would strike. Out of her peripherals, she saw Kamina grin, and clap his hands. The two charged at each other, their capes billowing in the wind, their steps sure. Soon, as they got closer and closer, their expressions shifted to a determined, resolved look, and they each let out a cry as they swung their weapon.  
The swords clashed, and immediately, Louise realized that this would not go well. She may be stronger than the usual girl her size, for whatever reason, but Zerbst was bigger than her, and possessed the higher mass. Even now, those big breasts were screwing Louise over. "It´s over, Louise! I have the advantage!" The germanian cried, and slowly but surely, Louise was pushed back. She grunted quietly as she did her best to keep up her resistance. Everything was at stake here. If she lost, Kamina would have to accept Zerbst´s gift, and that alone would put her family in said germanian´s debt, and that was unacceptable. That and the fact that Zerbst would use it as a bargaining chip to fornicate with her partner was even worse! It would dishonour the Vallière name, and she knew that he trusted her, as well. He had principles, and those were on the line here. If she lost, Louise would never be able to live with herself.

And so, she stomped on the ground in a step forward, mustering just enough strength to make Zerbst stumble a little. "Zerbst, you underestimate me." She spoke, before crying out in an outburst of power, and taking another step forward, which made Zerbst lose even more ground. At this point, with another step, she would win, as her opponent was standing right in front of a mole hill, courtesy of Guiche´s familiar. She guessed that his debt might just be cleared with that. Or she might ask for 65 écus. Because the Founder knows that this sword was not worth that much. It was in that moment that Zerbst noticed what Louise was trying to do, and suddenly adopted a fearful expression.

"Don´t try it." She said, but Louise did not listen. This would be her triumph, after all those months of torment, of bullying, of shaming, of belittling. So, with a smirk on her face, she lifted her foot to take the final step. However, that triumph ended before it began, as her opponent used that small moment to push with all her might, making Louise stagger backwards, and with that, the germanian had effectively turned the tables completely. Letting out a passionate battlecry as she did, Zerbst lifted her claymore, high into the air, ready to cleave Derf in two. Louise mustered up everything she could, barely getting her balance back, and met her rival´s battlecry with her own, swinging Derf right into the arc of the golden blade, and a resounding sound echoed through the courtyard.

Panting, the two stared at each other, both having their hands firmly clasped around their respective weapons. A second later, a loud thump could be heard as something hit the soil behind Louise, and Kamina clapped his hands again, signalling the end of the fight. The combatants then looked at what they were holding, and both of them could not believe what they were seeing. Derf was still intact, albeit seemingly having awoken right about now, yawning loudly. The golden claymore, on the other hand, was utterly ruined. Derf had cleanly sliced through it, and the other half had landed far behind the pink haired noble, who was visibly shaking in disbelief. How? How did she beat Zerbst with such a low quality weapon, and lesser skill in wielding it? The sword gave an answer to her unspoken question as it awoke.

"Oh, look at that. It´s the fatass. I see you´re being as useless as usual."

…What? What was this piece of junk talking about?

"What are you talking about, you stupid piece of junk?!" Kirche yelled, stomping on the ground.

…Louise would take the fact that she had thought the exact same thing to her grave. Derf, started chuckling madly to himself for a second, before the chuckles turned into full blown laughter. After he calmed down enough to speak somewhat coherently, he explained. "Oh, you know, it´s just the fact that gold is so soft that a flaccid dick would be a better wea –"

He was interrupted by Louise, who screamed in disgust as she shoved him into the mole hill, and buried him inside. "Filthy! Disgusting! Stay inside the ground where you belong, you dirty beast!" She cried, accusingly pointing at the mound of dirt, out of which Derf was desperately crying for help, saying that he was choking to death. Of course, that was a lie. It had to be. "Swords don´t breathe!" She retorted, and all of a sudden, the weapon fell silent. Had she not buried him, she would´ve been able to hear a silent _"Touché."_

In the meantime, Kamina had walked over to her, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Well done. I knew I could trust ya." He said with a dazzling smile, making the girl freeze for a second. Right after, she turned away, stating that it was only natural for a master to care for her familiar like that. Of course, he squeezed her shoulder a little tighter for the use of the wrong title, but it was mainly because the germanian was there. Were she not there, he knew that she would refer to him as partner, like she should. As he asked whether he was allowed to dig him out, pointing at the mole hill, came the swift reply in the form of a "Not in your life", and, sighing, Kamina bent down next to it, and patted the dirt. "I´ll see you around, partner. Good night." He said, before standing up, ignoring the indignant protests of Derf, though to be fair, it was rather hard to hear him. Meanwhile, Kirche just sat on the ground, on her knees, staring at her broken weapon. She had wasted the rest of her money, and for what? Nothing.

She clenched her fist, and stood up. "Zero! This is not over!" She declared, before turning on her heel and running off, presumably to go to bed and scheme. The duo just watched her back until she entered the Academy, and after that, Louise decided that Derf might be stolen if left outside, so she gave Kamina the permission to dig him up, but under three conditions. A) The sword would be whipped extensively for his terrible attitude, and B) every time he made another dirty joke, he would receive ten more lashes. Finally, C) if he made too many, they would grab Charlie, ride to the nearest lake, and throw him in. Her partner agreed, mainly due to his lack of options, and the fact that even he had a limit for pervy jokes.

As they pulled him out, the sword remained silent. For a second, Louise thought that he actually had died because of oxygen deprivation, but any regret was thrown out the window once the damn thing began snoring again. So, the duo walked back to their room, trying not to go insane from the constant snoring, and once they arrived, they immediately buried the weapon beneath a dozen pillows. After they did, Kamina took a second to stare at her bed. "How many of those do you even have?" He inquired, gesturing at the pillows he stood above.

"As many as it takes to shut up that sword." The mage answered, before throwing him out to change back into her night gown. Once she was done, she let him back inside and hopped into her bed. After he lied down on his makeshift bed, he yawned once before trying one final time that night to fall asleep. Except that there was one last person that stopped him from slipping into the realm of dreams. "…Kamina?" Louise asked, to which she got a grunt in response. "Did you know beforehand that a sword made of gold was useless in combat? Is that why you called for the duel?" For a while, the room was silent. Then, Kamina replied.

"Hold up. What´s wrong with a massive golden sword? Obviously, it was your fighting spirit that –"

"Nevermind. Good night." Louise cut him off, pinching her nose in annoyance, regretting ever having thought that her partner might have a brain in that thick skull of his. But still, his words from earlier echoed in her head. He had trusted her. And as stupid and reckless as he was, she knew that he was a man of principle; it must have been hard for him to put that much faith in her, the girl that made everything she touched explode, add to the fact that she had treated him in an extraordinarily arrogant way at first, and it made his trust even more unlikely. Yet, despite everything she had done, despite knowing that she was a failure in her society, he put his principles on the line…that fact alone was enough to warm her heart, and she smiled as she put her head on her pillow. It was nice to have someone that relies on you, she thought to herself before finally drifting off.

Kamina, meanwhile, could not find rest that night. Something was off, he felt it in his bones. He turned around on the hay over and over again, but his eyes refused to get heavy. Grunting in annoyance, he stood up, and walked over to the window. He opened it, and looked up, toward the sky. Leaning on the window sill, he thought about what his little brother was doing. No doubt, Simon was searching for a way to bring him back to their planet. And with the same certainty, the man knew that he would find one eventually. As he continued to stare, he began humming to himself. He felt like he could stare at the sky forever. It was simply that beautiful.  
So many sparkling lights, and each one of them might be inhabited by different plants, animals, and just life in general. At least, that´s what Leeron (shiver) had told him. And while the leader of the Brigade had faith in the man´s/woman´s/whatever the fuck Leeron (shiver) identified as´s/was´s proficiency in scientific matters, he was still creeped out to no end by that…manwomanthing. Those fingers were not natural. They couldn´t be. But one day, he would visit every last one of the stars in the sky. Life span be damned, he would find a way.

Whilst these thoughts of ambition went through his head, he heard a weird noise from below. He looked at the courtyard that stretched beneath the tower he currently resided in, and took note of a weird box, with a Charlie attached in front, although this Charlie was completely white. A slender figure was walking toward it, and he could not really make it out due to the distance, after leaning out the window a fair bit, going as far as actually stepping out on the window sill, he could just barely make out their silhouette. He then went further, and, holding on to the wall, leaned out as much as possible, squinting his eyes and putting a hand to his forehead to block the moonlight.  
He finally recognized the figure as Siesta, the hair and curves giving her away (why that maid uniform was hugging her waist and chest so hard, he didn´t know, but appreciate) and, after going back in and grabbing Derf, he leapt out the window, trying to slow his descent by shoving his sword into the wall, as a badass does. Except he rapidly found out that the stone was just a little too hard for that, and it was then that he ever so slightly regretted not asking Tabitha, who lived literally next door, to slow his fall, like last time. But, he had done it now, so he might as well commit. Frantically, grabbing Derf with both hands, he stabbed the wall over and over again, trying to pierce it in any way, shape or form to somehow slow his fall.

Seriously, the ground was like three seconds away.

He hit the wall. Shit.

He tried again. Damn it.

One last ti – FUCK.

He sped up his stabs by a huge margin, getting in around five per second, but it was no use. The wall was impenetrable. Checking the ground again, he took note that it was just about an arm´s length away. He looked at the wall again, and…hold up. It was then that he noticed that he was already on the ground. He looked up, and saw Tabitha staring out her window, staff in one hand, an open book in the other. He yelled his thanks, chuckling as he saw her tap her pointer finger on the book she was holding, and gave a thumbs-up before running off. Yeah, yeah, he didn´t forget that he promised her that he´d tell her his story, but right now, there was a more pressing issue. Like where his friend was thinking that she was going in the middle of the night.

Right as she stepped into the wooden box, he caught up to her, and put her hand on her shoulder, making the maid jump up in surprise. She began rambling incoherently about how she was already in love with someone, only serving to confuse our hero. He turned her around, and then, she stopped her senseless rant, and fell silent as she saw his face. "…it´s you." She whispered, looking at the ground. For a good while, she didn´t add anything on to that.

"Just where the hell do you think you´re going?" Kamina asked, though she didn´t respond. He repeated his question, albeit louder this time, with a more demanding undertone. She still didn´t respond. And he was already starting to get sick of this. "Siesta, you said that we were friends. That means that we should always be honest with one another. So come on, spit it out. Where the hell do you think you´re going?" He asked one last time, before he noticed the tears streaming down her face.

"Well, this carriage is headed to a noble´s mansion. He bought my contract, so I have no choice. B-but don´t worry. The p-pay is much higher…" Siesta stuttered, her hands trembling, and Kamina was quite sure that it was not because of the suitcase she held. He knew why, and tightened his grip on her shoulder. And thankfully, the maid got the message, and sighed. "I guees it was stupid to think I could fool you. But hey, there is no need to worry about me. As I said, the pay is better. I can help my family with this. So please, let me go." She all but demanded, trying to break free from his grasp, but it was one of iron.

"No." He answered, pulling her out of the carriage, and onto the ground. "You are my friend, and I refuse to let you go suck the dick of some sleazebag just to be able to help your family." She reddened at his rather graphic language, but didn´t respond, still trying to force him off. After all, knowing Kamina, he might just try and duel her new lord, and that would undoubtedly result in his death. He may have been able to best Guiche de Gramont, but he was but a dot mage, one that mastered the use of one single element. The master of the manor she was headed to was a triangle mage, and one that was in direct contact with the royal family! If he even thought of standing up to him…!  
The thought of what would happen to him was too much to bear. He was a shining ray of hope, a man that had already begun transforming the stuck-up brats in the Academy. He had to live, to continue changing them, for a better tomorrow. She would not allow those that came after her suffer this twisted world, just like her, not if she had the chance to prevent it! So, with all her might, and going against her pacifistic nature, she bit his arm, forcing him to let go with a cry of pain.

The next second, she jumped into the carriage, and told the driver to hurry. Within seconds, the horses began galloping, and they were in the forest surrounding it. Sighing, she slapped herself for doing what she did. She wanted to stay. She really did. Nothing would have brought her more joy than watching Kamina change the world for the better, like he always said in his speeches. But, for him to be able to do that, she had to sacrifice herself to the stain on humanity that was Count Mott. Hopefully, she would be the last. She had no regrets as she leaned against the window, closing her eyes, from which tears were still flowing. If only she could have stayed, to see the new world be formed in front of her…heh, she could swear that she heard his footsteps closing in on the carriage. But that was impossible. She knew she had an active imagination.  
,,,alright, seriously though, why were these footsteps actually still getting closer?

"SIIIIIIIESTAAAAAA!"

And with that, her eyes shot open. Outside the window, Founder forbid, was Kamina, easily keeping up with the carriage, and an outraged expression on his face. Roaring, he hopped onto the small step outside the door, and ripped said door off its hinges. There he stood, in the doorframe, glaring at her. "Just what in the hell do you think you´re doing?! I will not allow my friend to just throw herself away! Not while I still breathe!" He declared, and this time, the maid was absolutely positive that she saw flames surround his frame Though still, it was but her imagination. She simply stared in awe as he continued. "If you insist on throwing your life away, then I will insist on finding the bastard responsible, and smash his face in! So come on! What will it be?" The man spoke, calming down slightly in the end, and extending a hand, which the girl looked at for a good minute, the carriage still going for whatever reason.

She slapped it away. "Don´t you get it?! I´m doing this for you! If you try and stand up to Count Mott, you´ll die! He´s far more powerful than Sir Gramont! No one you´ve ever faced could have had the same amount of power as him! He is a **triangle** class mage. Just get it in your head that I want to protect you, and leave me alone!" She cried, trying to push him out, not accounting for the fact that he would hit the ground at a rather high velocity. But he didn´t budge, and instead just looked her in the eyes, seeing nothing but determination. Finally, he sighed.

"Fine. I´ll let you go. If this is your decision, then I won´t stop you. Serve this Mott guy. But still, I – "He was interrupted rudely by a loud yell coming from his waist.

"That was his name! Partner! I finally remembered! His name was Mott! Count Mott!" And for a second, what Derf said made everything go silent.

"Excuse me, what?" Siesta asked, but Kamina seemed to know exactly what was going on.

"Oh, that´s _perfect_ , Derf. Because I was going to fight that bastard anyways." He answered, patting the hilt of said sword, who was roaring with laughter, saying that he´d been waiting for this for far too long. The maid, flabbergasted, began stuttering about how the man literally just got finished talking about how he would let her go, and after she looked back at him, she stopped, seeing as he was clearly waiting for her to stop talking so he could explain himself. "You see, Siesta, I respect your decision. I saw it in your eyes. You forcing yourself to go, but you yourself wanted to. I don´t care for your reasons, but I can respect your determination. **But I what I can´t, and won´t respect, is some random asshat to steal my comrade away because he thinks he can just have his way with her!** I will never tolerate that!"  
And it was in that moment that Siesta stopped complaining, and simply sighed. If he did anything for himself, then she had no power to stop him. Yes, indeed, he was not doing this for her. He was doing this to protect his principles. To be honest, she wouldn´t want to have it any other way. She patted the seat next to her, and he stepped over her suitcase to take a seat, to wait for their arrival. Once Kamina sat down next to her, she asked him if he would actually pay for the door he ripped off, to which he didn´t get to answer as a loud screech reached their ears, and, fearful of wolves, orcs and the like, the maid grabbed his hand for comfort. He didn´t protest, although he did ask what on earth that noise was.

 _ **[MEANWHILE, HALF A MINUTE EARLIER, AT THE ACADEMY]**_

Louise awoke in a sweat. Panting, she looked at the ceiling from the comfort of her bed. "That was the worst nightmare in my whole life." She said to no one in particular. Thinking of the trust Kamina placed in her, she decided to return the feeling. "Hey, fam - partner? I just had the funniest dream. The maid was being hired as a mistress, and you decided to save her, although you had dog ears on. Heehee…anyways, then, you managed to catch up to her carriage as it went at full speed, and declared you would fight a triangle class mage to get her back. Heeheehee…actually, it´s even more ridiculous now that I say it out loud." Her giggles became slightly louder as she thought about it, leaning over her bedside to share her mirth with him, seeing as he was probably asleep anyways. "Kamina? Are you even awa –"

He was gone. "No. No. No. _Please_ , Founder, no." She closed her eyes, and opened them again. He was still gone. "This can´t be happening." She mumbled to herself, noticing that Derf was gone as well, now that the room was freed of his snoring. Louise looked beneath the bed, in the closet, on the window sill, even leaned out the window to check the roof, and finally, she stormed into Zerbst´s room. He was not there either, as was her archnemesis. Once she had walked back into her room, she fell to her knees, and took a deep breath as she felt her migraine, which had disappeared while she slept, return. Then, she cried to the heavens.

" **YOU STUPID DOG!"**

 **I love my job. If this can even be classified as a job. Anyways, review if you want to, which I highly advise you do, because at the beginning of the next chapter, I will answer it, and thank you. Also, there is the myth that if you review my stories enough, you will become a wizard. And, I dunno, get to go to any fictional world you wish to go, and take any one trait with you. Like being generic anime protag that has all the girls fall for him instantly. Or all the guys, not gonna exclude anyone. Actually, there are those that identify as objects, aliens, unicorns, and penguins…hell, include those as well.**

 **Actually, my recommendation: go to the world of either To Love Ru (all dem waifus), Highschool DxD (ditto), Familiar of Zero (ditto, and Louise and Tabitha are just adorable), or Gurren Lagann (because KAMINA. Nuff said. (oh, and Yoko is there as well I guess(and so is Nia(and Kittan´s sisters(and Simon(and Rossiu(and Gurren Lagann(and Viral(and MLGSWAGLORD3000(and my ice cream(and my porn stash(and dunkey(and EA, except with less greed(and highly advanced mechas that would be able to run anything at 60 fps(if you BELIEVE IN YOU, WHO BELIEVES IN HIM/HER/ITSELF!(I´m quite sure that this got old right around Simon)))));)))))))))))).**

 **Where was I? Oh yes, reviews. Leave them right down there and you can receive all of the above(which I have no idea what I said, I already forgot. Shit.) Now then, I do hope to see you next time, in complete seriousness, so with that, bye!  
Actually, not yet. If this is the last chapter before Christmas, then I would love to wish you a lovely Christmas! Enjoy yourselves! And those that do not celebrate Christmas, for whatever reason, have a wonderful holiday season nevertheless! Bye!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I honestly thought I wouldn´t get this done before the Great Chillaxing of ´17. But alas, here we are. So, before we get into the story, reviews! Oh, and just as a sidenote: 69 follows as I´m writing this. Kek.  
**

 **Don Orbit: Well, we´ll see how this goes. Also, I did make the not-so-loveable Count Mott a bit more eccentric/interesting this time around. Hope you like it. Though I will admit, the early merry christmas is a bit redundant now, isn´t it?  
**

 **Oh, and just fyi, his three elements are water, fire, and wind. If that wasn´t clear enough from the fight. So, let´s go!**

As the moon reached the peak of its cycle, the carriage pulled through a large golden gate and into a courtyard, where guards were patrolling with lanterns in hand, searching for any possible intruders. The vehicle then arrived at its destination, after following a long, pebbled path that lead through a small maze of sorts, created by the arrangement of the trees. Said destination was a large mansion, with a façade made completely of stone, with many different statues carved into the side. The windows were framed in wood, which had been painted in golden colour, and from a few, there was light to be seen. One presumably belonged to her new employer/rapist, and Siesta clenched her fists at the thought.

Kamina, on the other hand, was completely calm, even though he was completely aware that his opponent was far beyond anything he´d ever fought. It gave him a sense of danger, the feeling he loved so very much. It was one of the reasons he fell in love with Yoko. That girl was never shy to smack him in the face if she disagreed, and they _never_ agreed on anything except the fact that fighting the beastmen was the way to go. Everything else resulted in a spat. Be it battle tactics, his trust in Simon, the fact that he fought on the front lines with reckless abandon, all of it made her fume with anger, or, in Simon´s case, worry, mainly because she didn't trust a fourteen year old to be able to handle himself on the battlefield. Though she was exactly that age as well. Which raises the question, how did she get that body of hers? Kamina still had no clue how she ever fell in love with him. All he did was worry and anger her with his recklessness (and his perversion, but to a lesser extent). And that cost him the ultimate price that day.

But that was beside the point. He was here for one thing, and one thing only: beat up the bastard that had the guts to try and take Siesta away from him, and slice him up with Derf, so the sword could get some payback, and perhaps closure. So, with anticipation, he grinned as he thought of all the different ways he´d show him just how wrong he was. The maid watched him for a second, the fear still in her eyes. She had to stop him somehow, but she knew she couldn´t. The last hope of this world, and it would be extinguished just like that. It was not fair. The driver got off, and told them to get out, as he was rather tired. As Kamina obliged, however, the man placed a hand on his shoulder. "Give him a good beating for me, too." He said, before walking away, letting the guards handle the carriage.

Confused, the passengers looked at each other for a second, before shrugging and walking up to the large door. Before Siesta could knock, Kamina proactively, and aggressively, kicked the door, attempting to get it off its hinges. Suffice to say, while it did budge, and looked quite broken, he regretted it as he held his leg. Siesta chided him for his brash actions, before immediately noting that they were surrounded by guards. This would end great, she could already tell. They were brought inside, and thrown to the ground in front of a large staircase, her friend having a weapon held to his throat. At the top stood her new employer, a tall man with a handlebar moustache, hair that was combed to one side, and a horrible fashion sense, blending his blue and red top with the classic white culottes of the nobility, as they called their fancy trousers. On top of that, he had a cane in his left hand, and was leaning on it, striking a pose known in the dances at the king´s court, or the _Ballet de cour_ , as it was known further up the ladder of power.

"So, commoner, before you even set foot into my manor, you already resist. This will not do. This will not do at all!" The Count declared with flair, making the guards sweatdrop and the duo just stare in confusion, or was it awkwardness? They couldn´t tell, as his voice was so high pitched that it was impossible to take seriously. Add onto that how he was moving, and you have the satirical impression of an aristocrat you might see in an opera, played by a soprano. Founder knows that Siesta adores those over-the-top romantic stories, in which a commoner rises up to protect his love from the aristocracy, only to fail, causing the girl to take her own life at the end. She even liked the more _brazen_ ones. Perhaps she even enjoyed those more. The fact that Kamina was exactly like the protagonist in those stories made her embarrassed, and her face red, though the fact that all the main characters failed to win the decisive battle against the noblemen at the end immediately killed that feeling off.

But suffice to say, the maid did not expect her employer to be like…this. He was currently walking down the stairs, moving like a dancer would, exaggerating every single step to the point where the people on the bottom floor were beginning to idly converse about their days, how they might get their own squad after what happened last night, some just wolf-whistled at Siesta, which was quenched by Kamina´s growling, though her red face was exactly what the guards were hoping for, so it was technically their victory, and then there were those who talked about getting an arrow to the knee and thus stopped adventuring, though they immediately were reprimanded by a voice in their heads that threatened a dragon attack if they did not shut up, so they did.

And even after all this, the Count was still only barely halfway down the staircase. Kamina decided to speed things up a tad. "Oy, guard. Can you just leave? I just want to have a word with the Count, then I´ll leave." After brief pondering, the guard holding his weapon to Kamina´s throat sheathed it, and explained how little he was getting paid anyways. Before he could leave, though, he was reprimanded by the Count, saying he should be executed for treason, to which the guard responded that even without him, the noble could easily take down a simple commoner, but even so, the Count insisted on his execution, and with loud, indignant protesting, the guard was dragged out by his comrades. Which left the noble and the two commoners alone in one room.

"Well then, commoner, head into that room over there and change into your uniform whilst I deal with your friend here. Don´t worry, he´ll survive it. Only a few concussions…" Mott spoke, now suddenly sounding rather threatening. It was a crass change from before, and Kamina stood up, unsheathing Derf. The aristocrat seemed to recognize it. "Ugh, that ugly thing. How long has it been? Five years? I think it was five. I forget which woman I drafted into my service at which point. Oh well, it doesn´t matter." Siesta, deciding that this was the point to leave, right before the battle breaks out, dove behind a convenient pillar that was in the far end of the room, just far enough to not be in immediate danger, but close enough to watch without needing binoculars.  
The Count clicked his tongue when she didn´t comply with his orders, and continued talking, even as Kamina was adopting an expression that got darker by the second. "Siesta, Siesta, Siesta. Do you really believe that this man has any chance of beating me? Is that why you brought him? Very well, I won´t question your sense of judgement. However, I will make you watch him be utterly defeated by my superior –"

"Just shut up already. Don´t even dare to call her by her name." Kamina spoke, having fully unsheathed the blade, and holding it up threateningly. "All you do is talk. If you´re so great, then prove it!" He then threw the sheath to the ground, glaring at the mage. "I will not allow it. You will not touch a single lady again after I´m done with you." Gripping Derf tightly, he leapt forward.

"Are you done? Alright, good." The Count said after a short wait, in which Kamina had cleared around half the distance between them, and with a flourish, the noble flicked up his cane, making a sheath come off of it, revealing his wand, and quickly began an incantation, which he had finished in roughly five seconds, which allowed his opponent to clear the quarter of the whole distance. Siesta´s eyes widened as she saw how quickly he cast his spell. It was much faster than Sir Gramont´s. It probably came with his status as a triangle-class mage. The vases that were positioned on the tables around the room suddenly burst, and water flowed out of them, forming a large sphere in the air, which our hero ignored, instead quickening his steps.  
The Count then pointed at him with his wand, and the ball of liquid formed a large stream, easily twice the width of a regular human, which hit his opponent spot on, forcing him to the ground. Siesta screamed, telling the noble to stop, but all she got as a response was a "Tsk, tsk, tsk. It´s your fault for bringing him here. So stay quiet while I deal with this pest. Or you can go change, and I´ll go easier on him. Your choice." That last part was nearly sung, and the maid clenched her fists as she heard her friend´s drowning shouts from inside the waterfall, which had built up a self-sustaining cycle of sorts.

The water which hit Kamina blasted off to the sides, only to shoot back up to the sphere in the air, and be sent right back down to pelt him again. He wouldn´t last long. She had no choice. "I understand." She whispered, and, with a completely fake smile, turned around, walking toward the door he had pointed at earlier. Her dignity was worth nothing. Actually, she wasn´t sure whether she ever had such a thing as ´dignity´. It was seemingly exclusive to the upper class, as the commoners were abused to no end every last day.  
But that meant that she could trade nothing for a world in which this abuse didn´t take place, a world where commoners _did_ have that dignity. Yes, one day, he would save her. It would take time, but one day, he would come to rescue her, about that she held no doubts. And once he did, he would show her the world he´d created. The world which that man had told her about: people, whether rich, poor, powerful, weak, of whatever race they belonged to, living in harmony. Until that day came where that world existed, she would suffer in silence.

It was then, once she was at the door, as the Count was laughing, sure of his victory, that the shouting inside the water stopped, making the girl freeze and turn around in a panic. Had she taken too long? He couldn´t have…died, could he? Gulping, she whispered his name. There was no answer. Perhaps he didn't hear her, the water was rather good at blocking sound after all. "Kamina?" She asked again, this time louder. No response. "Kamina?!" She began yelling, the Count´s laughter becoming louder and louder. There was still no response. No. No. Nononononononononononono. This couldn´t be happening.

"Oh, I _do_ apologize. It seems that he drowned. My mistake. Well, that´s that. Go change. I´ll just dispose of the stains." The noble spoke, and with a flick of his wand, the water began steaming, and Siesta´s throat parched. He was getting boiled. His body…

"…stop."

"Excuse me?"

"STOP IT!" She yelled, running toward the aristocrat, who didn´t expect any resistance, and so she rapidly got to him, and pushed him down to the floor. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" She cried in her panic, slapping him over and over, and while the mage had long stopped laughing, it now being replaced with pained screams, his expression largely remained the same. One of haughty joy. He knew that he still had the upper hand, as evidenced when he began groping her in the middle of her beatdown, and once he did, she immediately stopped, and tried to pull his hands off. Though it had only limited effects, as he was still a man, and his superior muscle mass unfortunately resulted in him easily overpowering her, and pushing her down as he stood up.

"Usually they just get all depressed and obey, but this is so much better! There is more drama! More emotion!" He sung to himself, grabbing her hands, and forcing them to her sides. His eyes began taking in every inch of her body through her clothes as she struggled, and slowly, his mouth opened in awe. "Such a beautiful body…truly, the Founder has blessed you with a form that can only be described as art…" He pinned her hands down above her head with one of his own, and with the other, cast a quick spell to grab some water and freeze her boots to the ground, effectively paralyzing her legs as he stared at every inch of her, that alone making her feel violated to a huge degree. She began crying for Kamina, but still, there was no response. "Pipe down." The Count spoke, and, after freezing her uniform to the ground, which completely immobilized her, he went to unbutton her shirt.

However, that effort was undercut as Derf was plunged right through his arm, making him scream in pain as he recoiled. Before he could get away, though, he received a kick right to the face, the force sliding him across the floor. Siesta gasped as she recognized the silhouette of Kamina, who was panting, and looked rather bruised and beaten. His skin was completely red, the bandages having been washed off, and his mouth was leaking blood. It seemed like Guiche had done more damage than he thought. Siesta regretted that she fell for his bravado yesterday and didn´t force him to see the healer. It was unbelievable that he could survive that attack, much less stand!  
"Just…who…in the hell… **DO YOU THINK I AM?!** " Kamina roared, straightening himself out as he did, the blood slowly trickling to the ground around him. "This…is…nothing. You´ll have to do…a lot better to keep me down." He continued, slowly raising Derf for another attack. The noble, furious, scrambled to stand up, and raised his wand.

"How dare you interrupt me! This might just be the missing piece to my masterpiece, my chef-d´oeuvre! You will not get away with this!" He shouted, making the waterfall disperse and reform behind himself, and, with another flick of the wand, sent it all at the man, who just stood there, challenging the attack with a stomp, and, from what Siesta could see, he was going to try and slash at it. Her mind pointed out all the stupid mistakes he was making. The fact that he was wounded, that Derf was cracked, that he was trying to attack a magical miniature tsunami with but a sword all gave her the vibe that he´d gone completely insane. And yet, she had faith in him. If he could stand after that attack earlier, whilst being boiled alive, while he was still beaten and battered from his other fight, then he could win.  
So she watched as the water and Kamina were about to clash, the expressions of the two men completely matching, furious and determined to prove their superiority over the other. As metal met fluid, it began to become rather clear as to who would win this battle. Every drop of liquid Derf touched fell to the floor, becoming completely harmless. It was as if the swordsman was cutting through a sea, his charge forward completely unhindered. Count Mott, barely making out what was happening, began to panic, and, after glancing at the maid briefly, he flicked his wand again, to surround his opponent, and froze it. Kamina, so the two thought, was imprisoned, with no way out. The noble rushed over to the girl, and, with a quick incantation, brought over enough of the water on the ground to form a coffin of ice, or so it seemed. There was no space to move, so even though her clothing was no longer bound to anything, she was still stuck in her current position, but thankfully, there were a few holes that allowed her to breathe.

The mage then made her levitate, and, seemingly paranoid that his opponent would burst out from his prison, ran toward a bookshelf and, after reaching it, pulled out a book, which made the shelf rumble. It was at this point that the block of ice was sliced apart and, roaring, Kamina came out of the rubble, making Mott´s fear skyrocket as he waved his wand about in a frenzy, as the shelf was taking its sweet time moving. The ice melted, and flew past the swordsman, who, after noticing the ice that was forming itself on the ground before him, continued his charge, and, just before stepping onto the ice, threw himself on his bottom, sliding on it, steering using Derf, who was letting out a loud battlecry as well. The Count was oblivious to that last part, as he was still scrambling to muster up any kind of defence. Finally, he thought of one, and melted the ice once again, only to freeze it right after, resulting in Kamina being frozen to the ground via his pants.  
But all this did nothing to alleviate the mage´s fear, and though the gap between shelf and wall was wide enough for him to fit, he didn´t run, instead focusing entirely on his enemy, who hacked away at the ice that was now slowly growing on him, literally, so as to not become a statue. Eventually, he freed himself, and found that the Count was gone, as was Siesta, and her frosting. He ran forward, finding that the shelf had closed again, far quicker than it opened, and, frantically, he searched for the book that triggered the door.  
"Commoner!" Came a shout from up above, to which his gaze snapped to instantly. It was his foe, standing on the staircase, where he presumably got to via levitation, dangling a book in his hand. That probably was the key. "Now that she is gone from the battlefield, let us resume our bout! Have at you!" He said with utmost confidence, a far cry from his desperation earlier. The ice cracked, and formed a dozen fist-sized spikes, which, after briefly floating in the air, turned toward Kamina, and shot forward.

With lightning reflexes, he sliced through most of the barrage, the few that he missed grazing his sides, though there was little to no blood leaking from the cuts, and after that, he used the brief downtime he had to position himself better, and went back to his earlier spot in front of the staircase. The second he arrived did he turn around, only to be greeted by the second missile barrage. With deft movements, he dodged a few of them, those that he didn´t curve his body around, he easily cut through, and the very few that did hit him barely doing any noticeable damage, just piercing through the top layer of his skin. It was then that his back began feeling slightly cold. He turned his head just in time to see a massive shard of ice, easily larger than himself rush toward him. With no time to react, it pierced his back, making him cry out in pain as it stabbed right through him, his eyes locked onto his chest, where its tip prodded out, stained red with his blood. He grabbed onto it, trying to push himself off, but as he tried, the ice took the shape of a four-pronged hook, making it impossible to get off. His screams got louder as he began freezing, the ice growing on him _again._

Meanwhile, the Count was relieved that it was finally over, though his expression and attitude showed something completely different. "Yes, yes! Just like that! The indefinite struggle! The futile resistance! Oh, truly, this is art! Keep it up!" He spoke gleefully, waving his wand with deliberate movements, moulding the ice behind our hero into a large pillar. Like a painter, he swung his wand, and he began declaring his victory once again. "Oh, this will fit into it perfectly! My chef-oeuvre will finally be complete!" Kamina finally stopped struggling, and let his hand go limp, though he was still holding Derf tightly with the other. Mott was getting rather angry at the sight. "Commoner! Just what do you think you are doing!? I command you to continue struggling! Do you not care what happens to your beloved Siesta?!"

" **I thought I told you to not use her name."**

The noble gulped at the sheer rage that was in that voice. He didn´t panic, though. The man´s complete lower body was encased in ice, and his blood was steadily flowing from every last of his orifices from what he could tell. There was no way he could resist. All he could do was give up or struggle, and one of the two was the obvious choice. So, the Count continued taunting him, saying how he would enjoy Siesta´s innocence, always deliberately using her name, until, finally, Kamina snapped.

"Derf."

"Let´s do it, partner."

And with that, he lifted the sword, right before his shoulder was frozen, and, with a loud grunt, stabbed the ice, just where it pierced him. The aristocrat watched in terror as the entire construct began disappearing, seemingly being absorbed into the blade, which started to glow a rather bright shade of blue as more and more of the ice disappeared. Finally, once all of it had vanished, and his opponent fell to the ground, landing on his knees, Mott began gathering up the last few drops of water to form a barrier in front of himself. However, that barrier did not give Kamina any worries, the large hole in his chest being his primary concern, though even that was ignored in favour of finally ending the fight. Instead, he swung Derf twice, large waves of pure energy being emitted from the blade, which flew all the way up the stairs, and cut right through the barrier, which dissolved right after. They pierced one of Mott´s arms and legs each, making him cry out in pain as the momentum made him collide with the wall, the two projectiles pinning him against it.  
Kamina then lifted Derf straight up, pointing at the heavens themselves, and from the still glowing sword, ice emerged, in a spiral pattern, eventually forming a large drill. He hoisted it downwards, in front of himself, and with a loud battlecry, he gave it a good spin, and charged forward, continuing to roar as he rushed up the stairs at ridiculous speeds.

Within seconds, he reached the Count, who watched in horror as his opponent closed in on him, and while he did try to struggle, it was in vain. Soon, the drill was upon him, and his screams began to die down as it burrowed deep into his torso, stirring up his intestines, spraying blood everywhere. Kamina just looked the nobleman in the face, from which tears were streaming, his mouth drooling, with the occasional drop blood spilling out as well. Eventually, the drill stopped spinning, and Kamina drew Derf from his frozen sheath. He watched the Count in his final moments, who only managed to sputter out a few words before finally collapsing.  
 _"This…it feels…so surreal…"_ The two waves of energy dissipated, and, after eyeing the Count, Kamina went down the stairs, picking up the book in the process. Once he reached the bottom, he sheathed Derf, who let out a long, satisfied sigh.

"Thanks, partner. I feel like a load has been taken off my shoulders." The sword spoke, and the man chuckled in response.

"Derf, you don´t have any shoulders." He responded, making the blade just return the gesture.

"Heh. Touché." For a second, the two shared a moment of silence as they looked around the ruined foyer, before Kamina picked up Derf´s sheath, and slowly pushed him back in. The Kingdom of Tristain itself would probably not have enough money to fix this place back up. He looked at his chest, which still sported the large hole. He may need to see the nurse again soon. But he would pull through. Of that, he had no doubts. He always did.  
Then, as they were just about to go toward the bookshelf, the door behind them flew open. Expecting the guards to have returned, Kamina instantly drew Derf, and spun around. As it turned out, it wasn´t the guards. It was something far worse. He gulped. This was truly the worst thing that could ever happen to him. And that included Yoko finding out about Kirche´s advances. She would probably castrate him for that. But this? He would be blown to pieces.

" **FAMILIAAAAAAAR!"**

 **ANNNNNNNND CLIFFHANGER!  
I´m so evil. Well then, looks like I should wish you guys a merry Christmas. Again. Because I won´t finish another chapter by tomorrow. So, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARDS OUT THERE!**

 **If you feel inclined, leave a review, and I´ll just be over here, chillaxing for the next few days. Bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

**HAPPY NEW YEAR, YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARDS!**

 **Now that that is out of the way, let´s just get straight to the reviews.**

 **Don Orbit: Well, Mott is far worse than you think. If you believe for even a second that I make him seem like a psycho and don´t capitalize on the possibilities, think again. This shit gets worse. Also, if my eyes aren´t lying to me, then here ya go. It´s after New Year´s, and you´re hearing from me again. So in essence, I can and will add "Fulfiller of Hopes" to my list of titles.**

 **Without much ceremony, let´s get to the good stuff!**

Kamina sighed to himself as the pink-haired mage stomped up to him, though said stomps were not exactly threatening due to her lack of body weight, and looked up to his face with a furious expression. He met her stare with a defiant look in his eyes, which only served to aggravate Louise further, and so she angrily lifted a finger and poked him in the chest, making him grunt in annoyance. "You stupid, ignorant dog! Why would you just run off like this for a stupid maid?! Are you really that insistent on h-having your way with her?! Seriously, think with your brain for once!" She yelled, poking him once more to emphasize her point.

"Oh my. Such a romantic. Ahhh, it only reinvigorates my desire for you, darling…" Came the commentary of Kirche, said in such an overdramatic way that Louise wanted nothing more than to introduce her to Monsieur Wand so she would shut up. The germanian was leaning against the door, ignoring the stares of the guards behind her, who were visibly restraining themselves to not just blatantly check her out, though you couldn´t exactly fault them for doing so, anyways. Kamina in turn ignored her and instead waved at Tabitha, who was watching the two interact with squinted eyes. Finally, she walked up to him, somewhat surprising the others, and once she stood in front of him, she whacked him on the head with her staff.

"Stupid." Was all she said, in a perfectly neutral tone, though there was a very small hint of accusation hidden in it. This triggered Louise to go on another tantrum, continuing to poke him in the chest with every sentence she said, insulting him for his lack of common sense, his recklessness, telling him how attacking the Royal Messenger was akin to treason, how this would reflect on her, and honestly, since Kamina had long since tuned out, here´s the main gist of it. Blablabla noble, blablabla powerless, blablabla triangle mage, blablabla responsibility, blablabla why is there a hole in your chest. Her incessant poking resulted in her finger plunging right into the gaping cavity on his upper body. _OUCH_. That really hurt. He grabbed her hand and pulled it out, hissing as he did. Yeah, that might get infected if he didn´t get it treated. Might just be higher on the priority list than he thought. The pink-haired mage began to hyperventilate as she stared at her hand, realizing just what must have transpired for such an injury to exist. And sure enough, as she took in the state of the foyer, she felt herself begin to black out, something she would be thankful for after seeing the corpse at the top of the stairs.

"Please tell me this isn´t real." She said as she held her head, slowly backing up from the man, who was now getting his wound healed by Tabitha´s water spell, and as he thanked her for it, she only stated how he still had a promise to fulfil. As he chuckled at that, something inside Louise snapped. She ran back up to him, and gave him a resounding slap to the face, twisting his head completely, making everything go silent as she took long, agitated breaths.  
"You… _you…!_ You have no idea what you have done! You murdered a noble, _a man that was directly linked to the royal family!_ Do you want to know what that means? Huh?! DO YOU!? You, and me, can both be sentenced to death for treason! I sure hope that this was worth it!" She screamed, breathing heavily for a few more seconds, before collapsing onto her knees.  
Kamina drank in everything she had said and then slowly turned his head around to look at her. He saw how tears hit the floor. Nobody dared to say a thing. It was dead silent. _"…it´s not fair…everything I do ends in explosions…and the one success I ever have is the one that gets me killed…Founder…why…?"_

For a while, he said nothing, just staring at his partner, the air in the room being tense enough to be cut like butter. Finally, Kamina kneeled down, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her in for a hug, whilst rubbing the back of her head. Nothing was said between the two. The other people who were decided to look away, respecting their privacy. At least, most of them did. Tabitha just exited the manor, and leaned against her dragon, who was purring (?) as she picked up a book that lay next to it in the grass, and began reading. The dragon mused to itself how this was approximately the third book that day her master had begun to read, and probably was going to finish before they left. Kirche, on the other hand ground her teeth in frustration as she watched the partners (in crime), cursing Louise beneath her breath for being a "sneaky little cheater". Soon after, though, it became rather clear that that was unnecessary.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

With that, the man was shoved away, flying back several feet, and before he could even manage to figure out what just happened, an accusing finger was shoved in his face. "PERVERT! DOG! I TOLD YOU TO NEVER TOUCH ME!" After Louise's words registered in Kamina´s mind, he adopted a rather annoyed expression himself.

"Oh yeah!? Well, sorry that I care about you! Geez, whatever I do, you always find a way to nag about it!"

"EXCUSE ME?! Is that how you talk to your master?! Apologize this instant!"

"No."

Suffice to say, Monsieur Wand immediately showed his tiny face, though even in his persuasive presence, Kamina did not budge. Louise clenched her fist, and eventually put him back in her pocket. She would never be able convince him anyway. He was at least twice as stupid as Guiche in his worst moments, but he was thrice as stubborn as her. It was at this point that a loud gasp could be heard throughout the room, and everyone turned to look at the entrance again. A man wearing a purple robe, with round glasses and a staff in his hand, was surveying the room with widened eyes, paying a lot of attention to the Count´s corpse. "W-who is responsible for this?" He asked, hands shaking as he adjusted his glasses, and immediately, our hero raised his arm.

"That would be me! Really glad that the bastard´s dead. He-"

"You…you fool…do you realize what you have done?" Louise responded to that question before Kamina had the time to complain about being interrupted.

"I do, Mister Colbert. He has murdered the Royal Messenger. Since he is my familiar, I take full-"

"Miss Vallière, it could be the most insignificant commoner on that spike and I would care all the same. I repeat, sir, _do you know what you have done?"_

"Well…I killed him and saved my frien – shit, Siesta! I completely forgot!" Kamina exclaimed, picking up the book and running toward the bookshelf, eager to finally save her from whatever hellhole was beyond the furniture. Before he reached it, however, he was cut off by a trail of flames that formed a large wall right in front of him. He had barely any time to pull the brakes. Once he did, he turned around with a dangerous glint in his eyes, which was met by a look every bit as hostile as his own. "Listen Oldtimer, I have no time for this. I need to save my friend. She could be suffocating to death in there."

"There is only one thing I want you to know. You killed a man. Now, you must live with the responsibility. Whether you like it or not."

The flames died down, and without giving Colbert´s words much thought, deciding that it was just an old guy preaching, like the chief of the village, who was just too scared to do anything meaningful, he continued onward. Shoving the book into the one open spot in the shelf opened the secret passageway. It slowly slid open, and once it was wide enough for his hands to fit, he actively tried pulling it open, which, weirdly enough, worked wonderfully. He slid into the crack, leaving behind the mages and guards to discuss what would happen now that the Count was dead. Except for one, who followed him downstairs. **  
**So, as Kamina charged down the stairs, which were very dimly lit with candles, which swayed in a weak breeze, he noticed how the air seemed to grow ever colder as he descended further and further. After a short amount of time, he could see the bottom, and doubled his legwork. The second he reached final step, he jumped off and stomped as he landed, yelling as he did. "SIESTAAAAA! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

He listened for a response. And soon after, he heard her call out for him. He turned his head around to figure out where her voice came from, and once he did, he ran off, not paying attention to the person standing right behind him, who was left to eat his dust. Coughing, she grumbled, and followed him deeper into the underground. In the time she took to find him, he had long since reached the place from which the maid was crying out for help. And once he reached the large, open area where she was being held, he stopped in his tracks. The dim lighting from earlier had been completely washed away by a bunch of bright, white flames on small chandeliers lining the ceiling, making it look like it was daytime, the walls glistening similar to the dining hall back at the Academy.  
But that was not all in terms of decoration. In the middle of the room was Siesta, still encased in her coffin of ice. And behind her was a gigantic statue made of ice, resembling a naked woman with a ponytail that went down to her bottom, was easily the size of a Ganmen, and similar to Ganmen, her chest had a cavity, where a human could easily fit inside. However, the shape that very ice it was made of took was incredibly disturbing. It gave him shivers as he took it in, the shape that was reflecting the light onto the walls.

This must be the masterpiece the bastard had talked about so much, it had to be. Because this explained everything. Why he needed Siesta for it. Why he was so desperate that she and her coffin don´t come to harm. And most of all, it explained why he had been buying girls from all over the country, like so many other aristocrats, Derf´s friend only being one example, and why the manor was so devoid of any servants besides the male guards. Those girls were all here. Kamina vaguely heard Derf whisper out a name in despair, before the sword quietly began crying. The man responded by patting the hilt, and walked over to his friend. He wanted her to be away from this atrocity as quickly as possible. She had long since stopped crying for help, instead telling him to hurry up for some reason. He quickened his step. There was no way he would refuse her, not with _that_ being right behind her.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

Angrily, he spun around, glaring as Kirche watched the "chef d´oeuvre" with visible horror, legs shaking, wide eyes, and it was apparent that she was about to vomit. And while he wouldn´t blame her for wanting to do any of that, he wanted to personally punch her for following him, knowing full well what her intentions were. He was _not_ in the mood to be sexually harassed right now. Or ever, for that matter. And once she saw his expression, she gulped, and left the area, probably to inform the teacher of this…this _abomination_. He followed her with his rage-filled eyes as she left, until she vanished into the dark corridor. After that was dealt with, he turned back around, and walked toward Siesta, drawing Derf, who was still whimpering something to himself.  
He quickly sliced the coffin, and it fell apart into two halves, kind of like a shell. The second her feet touched the ground, the maid leapt into his arms, whispering a million thank yous, though she was actively pushing him back, which he responded to by walking backwards, to make sure that the girl in his arms never had to see this crap ever again, not even as they left. As she was pushing him back where they came from, speaking of some danger, a warning he ignored as something occurred to him. "Siesta? How did you actually end up in here? There is no way that the bastard had enough time to bring you here himself – "

His question was answered when he heard ice crack. Gulping, he looked up from the maid, who was screaming at this point that they should run, and back at the statue. He hoped to have imagined it, but what he saw destroyed that notion instantly. The statue, which was constructed entirely by young girls encased in ice, with varying expressions, though none expressed the same emotion, that very delicate structure was falling apart. The girl that formed the chest fell off, landing on the ground with a loud thump, a sound Kamina did not expect. He thought to have misheard, as ice normally made a shattering noise. But seeing her stand up, and smile at him seductively, with motions as smooth as a regular human being pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind.

"Mister, could you return our heart? I would offer you something _wonderful_ in return…" She huskily spoke, making soft, graceful steps toward him, letting her hands run all over her body. Kamina gulped, and pulled Siesta behind him, drawing Derf. He would put this…whatever one could call it out of its misery.

"…Rose? Is that you?"

"Derf, is this…?"

No answer was needed, as the man realized just who stood in front of him. The girl was advancing on him, her eyes empty, the seductive smile being the only semblance of emotion she seemed to be able to show. The sword began to shake, its voice cracking.

"Your eyes…your smile…where are they?"

She paid the words no heed, instead taking to continually make advances on Kamina, who was holding Derf right up in front of himself, so it looked like it was speaking to its former friend face to face.

"Mister, I can make you feel the greatest of pleasures. All you have to do is let her stay here." She pointed at Siesta, who wanted nothing more than to run away, and communicated this to Kamina by pulling his shoulders with all her might, but to no avail.

"…partner. Rose is no longer alive. Let´s rid this world of this pathetic imitation."

"Will do, Derf."

He changed his stance, getting ready to charge the ice. Once the sculpture saw this, it stopped, its expression unchanging as it stared at him. The vibe it gave off changed. Whereas before it acted like a nymphomaniac that wanted nothing more than to fuck, now it carried herself in a far more hostile manner.

"So you would try and stop us from being complete. From being perfect. From being… **beautiful.** "

The statue behind her continued to fall apart again, the upper parts of the body first, the head, followed by the hands, and finally, the legs. The ice that fell to the ground stood up seconds after, their expressions from when they were assembled intact. However, they all gave off the same vibe.

 **KILL.**

Kamina, never one to back down from anything, took a step forward. Siesta was shouting at him to run away, but he didn´t. This was something he had to do. These girls were twisted into something abhorrent, something inhuman. And he would put an end to it. He charged forward, right at the ice that used to be called Rose, and prepared to swing Derf. The construct responded by stepping out of his way, dodging his weapon with quick, yet fluid movements.  
Once he stopped himself to adjust himself, he noticed her hand being in a place where it shouldn´t be, making rather stimulating movements. He rapidly swung Derf to force her to back off, which worked somewhat. She jumped away from him, opening and closing her hand after gaining some space, watching it as she did, apparently pondering something. Kamina took a deep breath after what just happened, the shock being the main cause for this.

"You are quite gifted, Mister. More than our master." She spoke, before turning her attention back to him. The other constructs had all stood up at this point, and were poised to attack. And they didn´t look as if they would attack in such a harmless way. Even though that was completely subjective. He lifted up Derf, his mind still in a disarray from such an unconventional attack. Grunting, he looked at the rest of the enemies in the room.  
There were easily a dozen, if not a few more, all showing different emotions. He assumed that the one that looked like Louise would try and rip his balls off, the one that looked happy would attempt to choke him to death in a hug, as for the depressed one…he had no idea. Perhaps all of the above. Though at this point, he had a very strong urge to ask for one on one battles, and fight his initial opponent.  
He shook his head violently. This was literally the worst time for Little Johnny to start acting up. He focused, and glanced back at Siesta, motioning with his head for her to flee. He would need space for this. She hesitated for a second, but did comply after giving it a few seconds of thought. As her silhouette vanished in the dim corridor, he turned around, and came face to face with the construct that used to be called Rose. It seemed like she was the leader, though she certainly didn´t act like one.

"Mister. Go, and return our heart to us, and I will make sure your last moments are more heavenly than your wildest imaginations. If you don´t, my sisters will tear you apart."

"Heh. You would like that, wouldn´t you? Your heart has long since stopped beating. It is frozen solid. However, all of your cold combined is nothing against the heat in my veins! My blood is hotter than magma, my heart is hotter than the sun, and my soul is a shining beacon that pierces the frost of death! I am Kamina, the leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade!" He yelled with all his vigor, raising Derf to point at the ceiling.

"I am older than all of you combined, yet my heart burns with a mighty flame! I dissolve the very magic that you´re made of with my body! It may be brittle, but my spirit is more than enough to slice you apart! I am the ancient blade and member of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, Derflinger!"

" **JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!"**

 **Well. This was one heck of a tough one to write. So, here we have the first mini-arc of sorts that I pulled out of my ass and officially trademark as my shit. So, review please, or else I will be forced to do absolutely nothing and continue writing because I love torturing innocent souls. They may be fictional, but still. There is a reason I have "Be prepared" on a loop in the background as I write this. Anyways, I hope to see you guys next time. Bye!**


	11. Chapter 11

**It´s been a whole month. Might as well make a joke to make up for it. My dinner tonight.**

 **REVIEWS!**

 **Don Orbit: Never seen Psycho-Pass, but if it´s as crazy as the crap I come up with, I might just have to give it a watch. Also, we´ll see about obsession…next chapter…**

 **A-Non-Knee-Moose: Must be because of Kamina´s abs. Gotta admire ´em, even as a man yourself. Sooooo hooooot…#nohomo.  
Also, Gurren never :3. Won´t want to spoil anything…**

 **Sakura Lisel: I assume after reading the next chapter, your question was cleared up. He accepted the job, though he was never technically made her familiar.**

 **skywardwanderer: Gotta love dem twist endings, amirite?**

 **soggy noodle: Did you get skedaddled? Terrible old memes aside, nice to see some nitpickers. They´re always welcome.**

 **While yes, Louise would never openly curse, you must remember, this is her head, so she can say whatever she wants, and even then, she stops herself. You must realize that she´s been nothing but degraded a whole year, there is no reason to not believe that she curses them in her head, or tries to, as is seen later on when we see how limited her insultionary is.**

 **Can´t argue with that. Changed it.**

 **Ego boosts are always appreciated here, so other than those pesky nitpicks, everything else seems pretty good.**

 **LegionnaireBlaze: ANTI-SPIRARU! GIGA! KIRA!** **BURADU!**

 **On we go, eh?**

Kamina charged, and without a word, the ice responded in kind, all of them besides Derf´s former friend running toward him. One especially was keen on fighting him, one that resembled Louise when she was angry. It was essentially a carbon copy, well, besides her actual face of course, though it looked as young as Louise (after all, she had to be lying about her age, right?). But the emotion had been captured perfectly. So once it was in range, he swung once, the metal slicing through his enemy with ease, cutting off an arm, which turned to dust before it even hit the ground. However, that was by far not enough to destroy it, as the sculpture then used the small buffer that losing its arm gave her to duck beneath the attack, and punch him in the chest with the other, which was still very much intact. It nearly made him wince, but instead of wasting time with feeling pain, he himself gave his opponent a punch to the face, which was strong enough to break it to pieces, and make it fly to the side.  
As it collided with the ground, he immediately focused on the other enemies, who were basically upon him by now. The man regained his footing, and ran forward, preparing to slice apart the one who had a face filled to the brim with sadness. It reacted by simply throwing itself forward, and wrapping its arms around him. This resulted in Kamina staggering backward as he tried to push it off, though the fact that the construct had a firm grip on his arms did not help with the matter. It was then that he regretted letting it latch on, as seconds after, the rest of the horde descended upon him, grabbing his arms and although he did manage to keep Derf in his hand, he was forced against the wall.

Ex-Rose briskly walked past him, and he yelled at her to stop, struggling against their iron grip, though both actions were to no avail. He was simply ignored and held in place. The sad one also just kept her grip on him, taking hold of some metal rings that lined the wall. This area was probably used to be a dungeon in an earlier time, though this was now irrelevant, as he was bound to the wall and could do nothing except struggle meaninglessly as most of the ice walked past. Even after they had all disappeared into the shadows, he still continued his fight, kicking, screaming, whatever it took to get him free. Yet, every time he appeared to make progress by lifting his arms just a tiny bit, the sad one pulled herself closer to the wall, effectively choking him. That, of course, was enough for the others to put him back in his place. Derf was not much help, as his attempts at distraction fell on deaf ears, and his insults, while colourful, did not make the enemy bat an eye either.  
Eventually, as Kamina was still kicking and punching his way back into the chokehold, he heard sounds of fighting. He needed to get up there! His friends (and others) needed his help! And he would not just sit out a fight! Grunting, he resumed his struggle, after a brief break in which he realized that Louise might very well bring down the entire damn house down onto him once she tried to cast a spell. And as good as it might be for her self-esteem, being able to possibly take out all enemies in one go, he really didn´t want the whole thing to collapse onto him.

With renewed vigour, he resumed his fight, eventually getting back to the point where the ice around his torso would choke him. However, this time, he tried something a little different, mainly because of his panic. Once the sculpture loosened its grip slightly in preparation, he lifted his knees, effectively blocking it from constricting any closer, and with a loud yell, pushed it away. The thing landed a few feet away from him, and now that he had one less obstacle to worry about, his strength more than sufficed to free his swordarm and slice up the other two, who were still in a state of imbalance after his sudden counter. Ignoring its sobbing, he quickly did away with the sad one, and charged toward the stairs, brushing Derf´s concerned questions aside with a quick "I´m fine!"  
He kept up his speed, even while ascending the stairs, where he took three steps at once, quickly arriving at the top. It was here that he felt his throat go slightly dry, as the door was smashed to pieces, books all over the ground. Once he stepped into the foyer, his jaw dropped. If the royal budget wasn´t able to fix the damages before, then this was irreparable, even if you had all the money in the world. The supporting pillars were scorched, some even completely broken, the blue carpet on the floor was tinged with a deep shade of red, and the tiles on the floor were nearly all damaged in some way or other.

It was rather apparent as for why. There was a huge battle going on between the guards and the ice, and the guards were on the losing end, judging from the corpses on the ground, with nearly two dozen of them for each…non-existent broken sculpture next to them. They may have the numbers, but the shock and surprise that came with seeing the enemy must have made them easy targets. That and the fact that while they were technically young girls, they were just as strong as a slightly below average soldier. Add to the fact that they are more organized than any army, and that would be a challenge for even a powerful band of mercenaries. Without pause, Kamina ran forward to join the fight, Derf raised high in the air, two loud warcries bellowing through the foyer.

As he got closer to the fight, he took note that the mages were nowhere to be seen. Worried, he tried to go even faster, making his legs feel like they were starting to actually catch on fire. And yet, he didn´t seem to be able to get closer. In fact, with every step he took, it felt like he wasn´t advancing at all. Grunting, he ignored his body´s cries of pain and accelerated even more, but still, as he did that, it looked like he was actually going backwards. It was then that it dawned on him just what was happening. He turned around, and yelled. "Tabitha! Let me go!"  
His anger was completely ignored as his legs slowly lost momentum, the air literally binding him like rope. He tried to swing Derf to slice himself free, but the mage, after noticing his movements, quickly wrestled the sword from his grip, and within seconds, he was on the balcony at the top of the stairs, where the nobles had formed a perimeter of sorts, a huge wall of rock blocking off the staircase leading up to them, though the corpse of the former count was still accessible from said stairs. From the balcony, Colbert was launching multitudes of spells into the crowd, though they were small in scale and for each and every one of them, he took a fair while to aim. Why, Kamina did not know, though he had other things on his mind right now. He continued kicking and yelling as he was pinned against the wall yet again.

"Do you not care about those guys!? They will die if I don´t go out there!"

"…so?"

After taking a long while to register what the blue haired mage had said, he slowly began clenching his fists.

"Still wounded. Fighting means death."

He had no time for this utter bullcrap.

"Just who the hell do you think I am?! I won´t die to these frosted puppets! Now let me go!"

Tabitha responded by poking him right where his wound was a while earlier, making him hiss in response. She then turned around, and began shooting off a barrage of icicles at the enemy, having made her point. Kamina simply slumped against the wall. He would´ve struggled, but he was worn out from the battles from earlier, and besides, he didn´t have Derf on him, so he wouldn´t be able to break out. In fact, he felt like he should close his eyes, just for a bit…

After he fell asleep, Tabitha stopped channeling the air, making his body fall to the ground, where Kirche watched him closely. For a brief moment, she considered feeling up his muscles again, but decided against it. As nice as she remembered it feeling, if she did it, he would lose even more of his non-existent respect of her. Besides, she mostly wanted to see the reactions to her blatant sexuality, and those were kind of hard to see when the person you´re trying to seduce is asleep. She wouldn´t be satisfied by that.  
So instead, she moved him over to a small alcove in the wall her teacher had created, where any stray spell, if those things could use it, would not be able to hit them at their most vulnerable. She dragged him over, and placed him next to Louise, who had been put to sleep as well. The maid was seated here as well, and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw who Kirche was bringing into their little fort. The mage then proceeded to sit against the wall, silently grumbling to herself.

During the first few moments of their stay, all they heard were the sounds of fighting, ice shattering, fire blazing through the air, and the occasional scream of a dead man. Kirche thought about starting a conversation with the servant, and ask about the man snoozing on the ground. It had just dawned on her that she knew virtually nothing about him, which did not exactly help in her conquest. However, that decision was taken from her when Siesta opened her mouth.

"Do you think it was a good idea to do this to them?"

It took a second for the noble to register that the maid was in fact talking to her.

"No. No, I don´t."

"Why?"

How was this happening? This girl sure was gutsy, talking to an aristocrat as if they were equals! And yet, Kirche found herself answering once again.

"Because if they want to fight, let them fight. There is nothing wrong with wanting to destroy evil when you see it."

"Hm."

Another man died, his pain filled scream making them twitch noticeably. The echoes were drowned out by the sounds of battle, and the conversation resumed a few moments later, Siesta falling into an even more depressed tone.

"Then why are you not fighting?"

That was some thin ice, right there. Kirche gripped hard onto her own arm, preferring the physical pain to the sting that she just felt from that question.

"Well, you see…Mister Colbert said that he would not allow his students to fight. Period."

"What about Miss Tabitha?"

"…she´s a special case."

"How so?"

The noble shot Siesta a dark glare, and though the maid was currently staring absent-mindedly at Kamina, she got the message. This was where the germanian drew the line. Instead, she pursued another line of questioning.

"Where is Mister Derf?"

"Out there, helping the other two."

"How?"

"No idea. For all I know, he tells them dirty jokes."

A bitter smile formed on the maid´s face.

"True. I could see him do that."

Another warrior fell.

"You should go."

Kirche blinked in surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"I said that you should go and fight. You accomplish nothing by just sitting around."

The mage bit her lip. As much as she wanted to fight, she had to obey her teacher. She might be suspended otherwise, and she could not afford that. She did not want to return to _that_ place.

"That´s what he would say."

The mage seized up. Her eyes were glued to the maid as she began stroking Kamina´s head, pushing aside some stray bangs that blocked his eyes. This girl…was she…? Her actions were making the man on the floor breathe quite a bit heavier, she then noticed. They both blinked simultaneously, surprised at the fact that he seemed to be quite ticklish. You learn something new every day. Kirche had made up her mind. Without wasting another second, she stood up, and left their safe space.

"Hold down the fort." She said, before stepping out of the alcove, confidence in her steps. Once she was gone, Siesta lifted her hand, and instead placed it on his nose, giving it a tight squeeze. Within seconds, Kamina had opened his eyes, and sat up, gasping for air, before being shushed by her. He had no intention to stay put for long, and stood up as he thanked the maid.  
"Well, thank you, Siesta. Good thing you woke me up so quickly." He said, getting ready to rejoin the fray by cracking his knuckles. A split second after turning to leave, he felt a hand tug at his pants, and looked down at his friend.

"Don´t be so reckless, okay? Neither me, nor Miss Zerbst, nor Miss Vallière, nor the other two want to see you die."

He put on his trademark grin.

"Just who the hell do you think I am? I won´t die to –"

"Promise."

"…I swear on my pride as the Dai-Gurren Brigade´s leader that I will return."

With that being said, the maid smiled slightly as he ran outside, after looking for and finding Derf, and grabbed him from the railing as he hopped right over it, leaving behind three stunned aristocrats, whose incantations got stuck in their throat as the man they thought to be asleep stabbed his partner into the wall, slowing his descent enough to keep his bones intact, and charged into the fight. Tabitha lifted her staff to bring him back, but Kirche stopped her.  
"Leave him be. If he insists on fighting, then let him. He will keep on finding ways to do so until the battle is over, so focus our resources on something that will end it quicker instead." A short moment of pondering ended with the smaller girl turning back around, already whispering her next incantation. As she thought about how Kamina owed her, Kirche did the same with a satisfied smirk. Colbert just sighed, and followed after their example.

"Heh, good to see you´re back up, sleepyhead!"

"Don´t push your luck, Derf!"

After that small jab, the two focused on the matter at hand, and as he lifted Derf, Kamina let out the loudest, most invigorated battlecry the country of Tristain had ever witnessed, and his brother-in-arms followed suit, and with their renewed spirit, they entered the mess that was the battlefield. There were at least four dozen men dead, many of them scarred by shards of ice, broken bones, and huge stab and slash wounds. Only a small squad of three still stood, and they were faring quite well, keeping their backs against each other and using their round iron shields to their advantage, having taken care of a bit more than half of the things. However, anyone could tell at a glance that they were at their wits´ and stamina´s end. Their movements were slow and lacked force, and every now and then, even with their callouts, they barely managed to react on time. Add to that the fact that they were obviously losing hope, their desperation clearly visible on their faces, and this was truly a recipe for doom.

Just as one of them made a crucial mistake however, which a lifeless teen looked all too eager to punish, that very same opportunity was squandered as it got sliced in half, the upper body sailing over its target, the momentum making it crash into one of its own that had used a pillar that lined the entry to try and land on another survivor. As they collided, their bodies shattered, leaving only the broken face of a once pretty, young girl with a bright future ahead of her.  
Kamina ran toward the other two, who were dealing with a group of sculptures each, and were just about to be overwhelmed, and crushed the remains beneath his sandals, leaving little more than dust.  
Yelling, he jumped out from behind the guard that was closer to him, and with a single slice, two heads rolled onto the floor, giving the warrior enough time to ward off the last one. Without pause, he continued his rampage, running over to the last man, who had been knocked over and was being strangled by one of the things, with another one ready to finish him off _._ Derf smoothly cut through the ice´s torso, just before it was about to stab the survivor with its arm, from which its hand had been separated, the clean cut resulting in an excellent shortspear. However, it mattered little to nothing, as it was gone now. As was the survivor, whose neck made a loud crack before he was tossed aside.

Furious, Kamina grabbed the lower arm of the sculpture he just destroyed, which had been taken off of the rest of the body through his swing, and twisted it into his opponents hand, using his entire weight to knock it over, which miraculously worked, and as it reached for his neck, he pinned its other hand to the floor. Just as its finger grazed his skin, he decked it right in the face, shattering it completely. He felt the fingers twitch a small bit below his head, before they went limp and fell to the floor.  
The man took a deep breath before looking up. The whole foyer was a wasteland. The two that survived groaned in pain as they fell over. But something was off. He wondered what that feeling was. It was similar to what he felt in the basement, yet somehow, it was so different. He looked around the room, before his eyes settled on something at the top of the stairs. Groaning, he picked up Derf, who was being silent for the moment. The nobles on the balcony watched as he broke into a full sprint to the top of the staircase, Derf ready for a stab. Within seconds, he had scaled them, and lunged forward.

Derf easily pierced through the ice that used to be his friend. It simply took it, without flinching, as it stared at the bloody remains of her master. As Kamina fell to his knees, exhausted from the constant fighting, it lifted an arm, and slowly caressed the corpse that used to be Count Mott. There was no emotion in her voice as she spoke, only the ever prevalent lust.  
"Master, I will fulfil your last will, and my purpose. Do not worry."  
With that, it ripped his heart out, and smacked its face onto the severed aorta, making loud slurping noises. The man watched as the corpse lost the last of its colour, and the ice turned redder and redder. Finally, after the Count was but bones with a thin layer of skin, robbed of any blood he had left, it turned around, ignoring the fact that Derf was stuck inside it, and took the heart with it, the arteries that still hung on to it being ripped off after a few steps. It began walking down the stairs, only to be stopped by Kamina grabbing its leg. Ex-Rose looked down at him, and kicked his arm, making him scream as it let out some rather unhealthy noises. It then walked down the stairs, uncaring, straight toward the dust that used to be what it called its "sisters".

Once it reached the middle of the area, it kneeled down, and started searching for something. Eventually, when the ice found what it was looking for, it picked it up, examined it shortly by holding it against the light, before crushing it in its hand. It continued doing this, looking at many different parts, before either placing them in front of itself or simply turning it to dust. Meanwhile, the survivors just watched on, in varying expressions, one was weary and tried to reach for his dented weapon, the other was stuck between wonder, terror and empathy. Kamina, meanwhile, was trying to crawl over to them, to put an end to this whole thing. He only had one arm to help him, so he called out for help, which Tabitha offered by repairing his bone and flying him down to the ground. Though the magic did nothing about his exhaustion.

When he checked, he saw that the mages were eyeing the construct curiously as it did its thing, with Colbert holding the other two back, perhaps to study it. After all, maybe the idiot believed that there was a peaceful solution to this. The exhausted warrior grimaced at the idea. As if there could be any sort of peace with these murdering machines. He charged forward with a yell, a fist raised, ready to smash that thing to pieces. His throat hurt as he did, albeit that was nothing against his fighting spirit, who made him ignore the pain and continue forward.

Once he was about five feet away, something shifted, and with speed to fast for him to react to, the ice grabbed a broken arm that lay before it, and stabbed him right in the gut. He gasped for air as he reached forward, trying to get a hold on the enemy. However, it just let go of the arm, and made him fall over, right on the spike. "I will not allow anyone to meddle with my master´s last will." It spoke, as it found the last piece, and began assembling it, Mott´s masterpiece, his chef-d´oeuvre, the culmination of his very existence.  
First, the feet. It placed a sole first, then five toes, every last one being from another sister, gluing them together with its spit, infused with the former count´s blood.  
Next, the shins. It only needed two, so this didn´t take long, again, using the blood as an adhesive.  
Next, the thighs. It made sure that there were no cracks in them from which the blood could flow out of as it placed them on top of the shins.  
Next, the abdomen. It specifically left out the genitals for some reason, having specifically carved them out from the rubble that it glued onto the thighs.  
Next, the torso, and breast. Every last bit was checked once more for any errors before being placed on top of the construct. There was a cavity that was left out, however.  
Next, the arms. Upper and lower arms were from different sisters, the hands were crafted from the same sisters as the feet.  
Next, the only thing that were left were the genitals, the head, and the heart. Grunting, it grabbed its own genitals, and ripped them off. The part was uneven and wouldn´t have fit, though the construct had an excellent blade ready to fix that. Once Derf had done his job, it spat on its former abdomen, and inserted it right where it belonged. A small smile on its face, it stood up. It walked away, toward the bookshelf where it came from, leaving the heart next to the unfinished chef-d´oeuvre.

Stunned, the mages watched the female shape that stood right in the centre of the foyer, before an indignant cry from Siesta woke them up, and Tabitha brought over the men that were lying there, injured. She treated them, and Siesta comforted one of the survivors, though Kamina refused to just sit around and wait for the thing to come back. He wanted to go on the offensive, take it out, for hell´s sake! This time, Tabitha held him up against the wall for good, not letting anything go according to chance. After all, the army was gone, and they could easily destroy the enemy if things went awry, so they might as well figure out what the last will of Mott was. "It´s the least we can do, even if this is horrible." Colbert justified, to himself more than anything, before finally, it came back. It held a glass container, in which a head was stored, and the ice made sure that it did not come to harm, holding it as firmly as possible, and taking careful, yet large steps toward the incomplete masterpiece.

Once it was there, the others watched with bated breath, after silencing Kamina, how it placed the head on top of the shoulders of the rest of the ice, and licked the edges where neck and torso connected. The blood that was inside suddenly started glowing slightly brighter, and took on a lighter hue, more reminiscent of skin colour. Colbert gulped. Was this…? Its gaze was fixed on the group.  
"You still have our heart in your possession. Hand it over." Without hesitation, Colbert began firing upon the construct. Kirche and Tabitha joined in, creating a huge dust cloud that obscured their vision completely.

After a good minute, the teacher took a deep breath to calm himself. He didn´t even notice that he was breathing so quickly. "…Necromancy." Was the only thing he said, making Kirche gasp in surprise, and Tabitha adjust her glasses, a curious look in her eye. As he was about to explain, it appeared in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere. No words were spoken as it grabbed the nearest survivor, who was dangled above the edge head first, screaming, as it made its demand, ignoring his comrade screaming.

"Hand it over. Now."

"Never." Kamina answered, the blue haired mage´s loss of focus returning his ability to speak.

"Oh well. I don´t need it to finish, anyways." It jumped off, taking the man with it.

His friend cried out in despair, climbing up to the railing to get a good view.

It ran toward the undamaged masterpiece, which looked as though it had a barrier around it, and slammed the man into the ground in front of it. Without pause, it slammed its lips onto his, sucking his life out of him. His screams were muffled, but his friend cried out one last time as he lifted an arm toward him, before it simply fell off, the skin torn from the weight of the bones. With the man dead, the sculpture planted its head against the cavity in the chest, and coughed up the blood, which flowed around the ice for a bit before finally finding its place in the hair, which took on a dark crimson hue. It was at this point that Kamina stopped struggling, as he realized just what the creation looked like. His mouth agape, he watched as it picked up the count´s heart, and placed it inside the cavity, which remained open for everyone to see, before falling over, its job done.

The barrier faded, and the energy flowed into the masterpiece, which spent a good few moments simply standing there. Just as the tension became unbearable, it flexed its arms, and began looking around, feeling up its body, every orifice, every last piece of skin was touched. It adopted an expression similar to Tabitha´s, before looking up at the group.

"It can´t be…" Kamina muttered to himself, grabbing the other´s attention. "There is just no fucking way…" Tabitha dropped him, and he walked over to the railing, holding on to it with an iron grip, his knuckles going white.

"Kamina…?" The maid asked timidly, though his attention was fully on the construct.

"Why…why does this thing look like Yoko?!" he yelled, for which ´Yoko´ completely ignored him.

"My dear heart. Please come over here. I feel cold."

 **Well. This just went from mildly psycho to full on Bioshock. Sometimes I wonder whether I´m all right in the head. Anyways, review please, and they´ll be answered soon, as I plan to make the next chapter the last of this "season", to be in time for a special event. Bye!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Let´s just skip to the reviews, I know you´re itching to see how this continues.**

 **LegionnaireBlaze: As fun as that would be, I have other plans. You´ll see what I mean in the future…**

 **LET´S GET THIS SHIT ON THE ROAD, MY FRIENDS!** **SEASON FINALE!**

"My dear heart. Please come over here. I feel so cold."

Upon hearing this, the mages immediately began pelting it with spells, and as it seemed, it had some effect, as ´Yoko´ groaned loudly. Kamina just watched as the thing that looked like his girlfriend was mercilessly attacked, and though he knew that it wasn´t actually Yoko standing there, he still ground his teeth in frustration as it seemed to feel discomfort. He didn´t want his love to feel bad in any sort of way, even if it was only a mild annoyance. It was natural. But this was not Yoko, not the woman he loved. And yet, he felt so torn up over it. He gripped the railing harder, his skin, frozen from all the close contacts with the ice, tearing open, making his blood leak.

Siesta watched him, worried. She had no idea who this Yoko was, but she obviously meant a lot to him. The maid placed a hand on his arm, snapping him out of it. She gave him the best smile she could offer in these circumstances, with all the dead men weighing down on her heart. He in turn just stared for a minute, before taking her arm and pulling her into the fort.  
"That thing is after you. Stay here." He said, before running back out, returning shortly after with the last survivor of the guard. Wordlessly, the wounded man thanked Kamina, who then ran off, leaving the two behind. For a while, nothing was said. Then, as another blast hit its mark, making a loud exploding sound, the man coughed. Worried, the maid asked if he was all right, to which he offered a wry smile.

"I am sorry, _ragazza_. I don´t think I´ll make it." He spoke, before falling into another coughing fit. As he removed his hand from his mouth, she saw the blood that had stained his leather glove, and his dry lips. Her eyes widened, and she took his hand into hers.

"Don´t say that! I´ll fetch Miss Tabitha, she´ll be able to-"

"Don´t. I´m…a bit too far over the edge for her to be any…help." He cut her off, tightening his grip on her hand. "Instead, just…hold my hand."

"…yes, I will." She answered, placing her other hand on his. Another coughing fit. More blood that flowed from his mouth.

" _One…last…thing. In my…pocket…key…barracks…"_ He all but whispered, making it incredibly hard for Siesta to make out the rest. She rummaged through the pocket in his leather pants, and found a bronze key. Upon seeing it, the man closed his eyes. She shook as tears flowed down her face.

"What´s your name?" She asked, caressing his hand, knowing that he probably couldn´t even feel it.

" _Sal…va…tore…"_

With that, he breathed his last, and the grip on Siesta´s hand vanished. She put the key in her apron´s pocket, and held on to his hand as tightly as she could. This was all her fault. No one would have died had she not resisted. If she had just never let Kamina come with her, none of this would have happened! Then he would have changed the world, the guards would still be alive, and no one would have had to suffer because of her! She slowly put his hand on his chest, and put him in a more comfortable position. As little as it mattered.

She then stood up, and exited the fort. She saw how the thing had walked up the stairs, and smashed through their wall. There was not a single scratch on it. The mages threw spell after spell at it, but it was no use. "Give it up. Every last part of me was enchanted to create an impenetrable barrier once fused together. Your magic will never stop me." It spoke, not a single emotion in its voice. As it marched ahead, it smacked aside Kamina, who had been charging at it during its little monologue, and buried him in a heap of rubble. With a tilted head, it looked at them. "You´ll end like him if you continue." She warned, and unsure whether or not to continue, Colbert looked back, and seeing Tabitha cast another spell, he stopped her. After turning around, he asked it a question.

"Tell me, if we hand over your, er, heart, what will you do?"

"Take what I´ve been promised, of course." It said, as if anyone was supposed to understand what it meant.

"And what would that be?"

"My heart. This one is impure. Whoever it belonged to has blood on his hands. It´s so **ugly**. But hers" It first gestured toward the open cavity in its chest, then pointed at Siesta, making the nobles turn around, "is innocent, pure. I need it. It´s mine."

"I´m afraid I cannot allow that. She has a whole life ahead of her. I will not allow you to just murder an innocent!" He bellowed, stabbing his staff in the ground, making a large wall of dirt arise between them. "Quick, Miss Tabitha, give Miss Vallière´s familiar his sword back!" He yelled, before his wall was punched through, and he was punched off of the balcony. Kirche yelled in despair as she saw him sail through the air, knocked unconscious. Tabitha quickly whispered her incantation, and Derf flew toward Kamina, hitting the wall just as she was grabbed by the neck and smashed into the ground, her usually quiet voice breaking out into a cry of pain.

Kirche stood alone against the construct, and as it looked up from her friend, she couldn´t help but gulp, her knees shaking. This thing was fucking unstoppable! Someone walked past her. It was the maid. She watched as the commoner walked right up to her killer, and opened her arms. "Kill me." She said. The thing turned its head in confusion. "All these people are suffering because of me. I refuse to let this continue." She elaborated, looking around the area, with ´Yoko´ following her gaze. Piles upon piles of corpses, unconscious nobles, and just plain destruction throughout the whole foyer. They looked at each other. Without a word, it lifted its arm, and she closed her eyes, ready to die. She said her farewells to her family, her little siblings, and to Kamina in her mind, then steeled herself for the blow.

She felt the air get incredibly hot in one second to the next, and opened her eyes upon hearing someone dashing in front of her. In front of her stood Kirche, holding back the ice with a large hammer made of fire emitted from her wand, which just so happened to be the handle, in a stalemate with its fist. She was grunting heavily due to the strain it put on her muscles and nerves as she stood face to face with the abomination in front of her.

"Just…who… **IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!** " She yelled, but not at the monster, but at the maid behind her.  
"Do you really think that dying here will fix anything?! You naïve commoner!" She was pushed back slightly, but used a cracked tile in the floor to give herself some stability.  
"If you want to properly honour the sacrifice of these men, then live life to the fullest! Don´t just give in to the demands of their killer! Fight it!" The tile cracked, and she nearly lost her footing, but kept herself up, if barely.  
"After all, that is something he´d say, ri-" She was punched in the face with the construct´s other fist, and flew backward, and crashed down a few feet behind Siesta, who was too shocked by the mage´s words and actions to do or say anything. The germanian lay there, still.

´Yoko´, becoming increasingly impatient, jumped forward and grabbed its heart by the throat, lifting her up in the air. It fixed its eyes on her chest, and prepared to remove it. Siesta, breaking out of her stupor, began violently struggling, kicking, screaming, beating up the construct as much as she possibly could, annoying it to no end. Without a word, it constricted its hold further, and its hand shot forward. Just as it was about to pierce her skin, the arm was sliced off, making it drop Siesta in favour of, screaming as it held its broken arm, not believing what it was seeing. It was supposed to be invincible! What was this?! Meanwhile, Siesta coughed as she lay at the feet of her saviour, who in turn was panting quite heavily, Derf in hand. He didn´t manage to say anything before it kicked him to the ground, and began stomping on him over and over and over and over and over and over and Siesta was screaming for it to stop as he vomited as he was kicked again and again and again and again and Siesta heard something behind her and she was blown away by a huge explosion. She barely managed to stay conscious, and looked up at the last warrior that still stood, albeit wobbly.

"Let him goooooo!" she shouted, pointing at the enemy over and over again, each time causing a large explosion that forced it away from Kamina, and back to the count´s corpse. Over and over, it cracked a bit more, until it stood right next to its creator. "Kamina, now!" She shouted, and he stood up in a flash, roaring, speeding into the final explosion, ready to end it. As he did, Louise fell to her knees, and panted heavily. The sound of steel piercing something signalled the end. As the dust cleared, servant and aristocrat looked up at the scene. Kamina stood there, sword right through the imitation of his love´s heart, no, Mott´s heart and soul, nailing it to the drill of ice that bound him to the wall.

He took a deep breath, and pulled Derf out from it. There was one last thing to do. He walked down the stairs, one at a time, slowly. He raised Derf, who had been silent for quite a while now, excluding the roar he partook in a second ago. They reached the bottom, and entered the mess. In it lay one last construct that still ´lived´. Once they reached it, Derf spoke. "You used to be a good friend. I hope that your stay in the Founder´s Haven will make up for this. Farewell, Rose." He was stabbed right through its heart, making it gasp for air as its body began disintegrating, legs first. As its belly turned to dust, its mouth curled up into a tiny smile.

" _Farewell, Derf."_

Had they not paid attention, they might have mistaken it for the wind. But they didn´t. Derf´s hilt creaked open for a while before he shut it, trying to supress the sobs. Kamina stayed silent, giving his brother-in-arms the space he needed to mourn. He walked toward the teacher, who still lay on the ground. Thankfully, he seemed to have had his fall broken, only being unconcious. Perhaps the work of Tabitha. The victor picked him up, and carried him upstairs, where he placed him next to the other two, who were unconscious as well. Siesta said that they would pull through, as the healer had given her rudimentary lessons in first aid, which took a load off of their shoulders. Seeing Derf cry, she told the partners to go search around the place. When asked why, she pointed at the sword, and made it clear that she would comfort him. Nodding, Kamina handed him over, knowing that he was not the best at that kind of stuff. What Derf needed was not a pep talk, but a shoulder to cry on instead. The maid motioned for them to leave, wanting a shoulder to cry on as well, after all the deaths she caused.

He and Louise stood up, and walked through the nearest door, as to not disturb the two. Once they were through, Kamina noticed a huge painting on the wall. He clenched his fist. That was Yoko. However, she looked older, older than him, easily in her twenties. Also, she wore a rather constricting attire, one that reminded him of something that combined the colours of Leeron´s *shiver* clothes with a far more formal and longer dress, accentuated by a pair of glasses and the fact that her hair was no longer in a ponytail, but open. There is no way that the woman he loved would wear that, she hated formal and constricting clothing. And yet, the woman on the canvas looked just like her, only a bit older. Just where the hell did that painting come from?  
Louise elbowed him in the torso as she called him a pervert, making him cough. "There is no way a lady as pretty as her would ever consider marrying you." She said, making his blood boil. He didn´t hit her, as much as he would´ve liked to return the favour, and instead just straight up told her that she was looking at his girlfriend. It took for a while to register, and once it did, he held her mouth shut, as she was about to scream, and the other two were right outside.

"There is simply no way. You come from a different world, you-"

"Her name is Yoko."

"…how does that help prove anything?"

"It doesn´t. I just wanted you to know. Let´s look around." He finished the discussion, beelining for the desk in the corner, on which lay a book, which he opened without much fanfare, despite his partner´s indignant, yet restrained protests. It took a whole ten seconds for her to remember that he couldn´t read, so she walked over, sighing, holding out her hand for the book, and he handed it to her. After adjusting it for a more comfortable hold, she began reading its contents aloud.

 _I finally got her to write a diary. All it took was me promising to write one as well. Now, I will be able to check whether my actions have any effect. I´ll start by overacting, like those idiots in the theatre. That should get a giggle out of her mouth, or at least make her write something about it in her diary._

 _It didn´t. I don´t know what to say. I am making an utter fool of myself, yet there is no reaction. I will continue. I am expecting a delivery of clothing tomorrow, which cost me a lot of my wealth. I may have spent a little too much, but in the end, it will be worth it to see her happy face._

 _Three weeks have passed, and still nothing. I checked her diary and it´s all the same entry. I don´t know what to do. She doesn´t ask for anything, she just eats, drinks, and acts like a doll, for a lack of a better word. There is no reaction to anything I say or do. She just silently acknowledges it, and carries on like nothing happened._

 **[Play The Shining OST: Utrenja(Ewangelia)]**

 _I am slowly going mad. She shows no sign of any desire in life. There is no spark in her. She just lives for the sake of it. I tried overacting even more, but she doesn´t even acknowledge that anymore. I am losing hope that I might ever get to see her smile…_

 _Was I ever different? I could swear that six months ago, my feet and throat did not constantly hurt all day. Is this even real? Is this a dream? But what do I care? Even if this is but a dream, I need to make her feel something, anything!_

 _Finally! After Founder knows how long, she reacted to something! Once she saw the portrait of the woman on the wall, she commented that she was beautiful! I will definitely not let this chance pass me by!_

 _A wish. A wish. A wish! She showed desire in something, at long last! She wished to be as beautiful as the woman in the portrait! I will definitely not let her down!_

 _I used half my fortune to smuggle in books about necromancy into my manor, but I don´t care. Neither do I care about the Church. If I need to sacrifice myself for her wish, so be it._

 _I have begun the ritual. I tickled the servant day and night, and now she is frozen in the happiest possible state. She is but the first in many. I will not fail._

 _How much time has passed? I don´t know. I rid myself of another guard every day to prevent them from figuring anything out, and the others hire a new one to replace them. Yet, they all look just like those I hired a year ago. It doesn´t matter. Probably my eyes playing tricks on me. Anger is next._

 _It is nearly complete. Although it is not specified, I think I will add my own touch to the spell. It won´t corrupt the results as long as all other ingredients are present. Besides, as an artist, I know that adding the blood of a true fighter on the precipice of despair to the mix will only befit a woman of this stature. Her true beauty lies in the fact that she rids herself of the shackles that we, men, are._

 _I told her that I needed to remove her head to finish it. To make her truly beautiful, I shall reform her head, and make her look just like the woman in the painting. After all, this body will only accept her soul if her head is on top of it all. I may have to die for it, but that does not matter. This feels so surreal. It can only be a dream. But even so, I must fulfil her wishes, no matter how much my hands shall be stained in blood, be it an innocent´s, or my own._

 _This is it. The last piece will be delivered tomorrow. Soon, just as you wished, you will be beautiful, my dear Amarante. Your beauty will last forever._

Louise dropped the book, shaking as she spoke the last few syllables of the diary. She gulped, leaning on the desk to not fall over. She thought heavily on what she had just read. Heresy? For what? A silly wish? Inconceivable! Good thing Kamina killed him. Count Mott was truly insane. As she bit her fingernails in her nervous state, Kamina picked up the book, and put it back on the desk. He pulled out the chair next to it, on which his partner sat, thankful for the minute to process all that information. After a few minutes, he hugged her from behind, to which she lacked the focus to protest.

 **[Music off]**

It took a while, but once she had finally recovered enough to walk, she gave him a light smack on the cheek, weakly saying that she had made her stance on this kind of contact clear. He complied quietly, and lent her a hand to stand up, which she took. They looked around the room briefly, and noted that it was empty besides the desk and bed. He must have sold everything for this Amarante. The duo spotted another door, and walked toward it. Together, they opened it, steeling themselves for what they may find.

It was the prettiest room in the entire estate by far, having a big, eloquently designed carpet on the floor, a big table for makeup lined with many exotic powders, perfumes, you name it, it was probably there. On the wall next to the table hung a huge portrait of a young girl, not even in her teens, with a gaze as empty as it could get. Louise felt like it was looking at her, making this all the worse.  
The bed was as fluffy as it could get, at least thrice the amount of pillows of Louise´s bed on it, and a huge blanket, easily as thick as Louise´s wand was long, and it had many, many plushies on it. Bears, cats, horses, goats, cows, snakes, it was all here. And then their eyes fell on the night table next to said bed, and Louise gulped. It was the one thing she dreaded. Another diary. They walked over, and she opened it, her mouth drying up as she did. She read it aloud once again.

 _It´s cloudy today. It´s a bit cold._

 _It´s a nice day out. It´s a bit cold, however._

 _The sun is still shining. It´s a bit cold, however._

 **[Play any rising horror violin effect and read quickly]**

Louise´s mouth dried up as she went on reading. Was this all this girl had in her life? Checking the weather, and permanently being cold? This…this lined up too perfectly with what the Count wrote in his diary. His daughter truly was emotionless. Her eyes darted to the portrait for a brief second, but in that short moment, she sworethat **the eyes were looking directly at her**. She continued reading.

 _It´s raining. It´s a bit cold today._

 _Snow, in this season? It´s cold today._

 _I found a portrait in Dad´s room today. The woman on it was pretty. It´s a bit cold today._

 _Dad asked me whether I wanted anything today. I want to look like the lady in the portrait. She looks pretty. It´s a bit cold, however._

 _It´s sunny. It´s a bit cold, however._

 _It´s a bit cold today._

 _It´s hailing. It´s cold._

Louise began breathing heavily as she flipped the pages, and saw the same sentences, over and over. She felt cold as she glanced at the painting again. **The eyes were staring at her.** Her gaze fixated on the book again, trying to finish it as quickly as possible, sweat going down her forehead, despite the temperature. The next entry looked much more recent than the rest.

 _Dad told me that he was almost finished. With what, I don´t know. It´s cold._

 _Dad told me that he needed my head to make me beautiful. He told me that tomorrow, he would take it off and I would wake up the next day looking like the lady. Cold._

Louise threw the diary against the wall, shivering all over from the cold as she fell to her knees. She ignored Kamina´s touch, and his whispers that it was all okay. This was **not** okay! How could anyone survive in this world with so little emotion, as if her heart was the Void itself! This was scaring her to no end! She felt the eyes, those empty, soulless eyes, looking at her.  
She shook like crazy, hyperventilating, breathing erratically, her heart beating like crazy. She didn´t stop for a good while, and she saw darkness in her vision. This felt like an eternity, as she sat in his arms, shaking like a leaf in the wind. Eventually, she heard his words, and began to focus on her breath. She took a deep breath, and upon letting it out, she remembered it. The **Rule of Steel.** This was no way to act for a noble such as herself. Shoving her fear down into the abyss, she breathed in,

out,

in,

out,

in

and out.

 **[Music off]**

She opened her eyes, and found that she had calmed down a lot. She pushed Kamina away again, and stood up, picking up the diary. She looked at the painting one last time as she got back up, and gave it a defiant "Hmph" before turning on her heel and leaving. She told Kamina to follow, and they left the room. In Mott´s room, Louise took his diary as well, and they went back to the others. Siesta had reddened eyes, and the two hardier mages were awake. Louise handed Colbert the diaries, who began to study them immediately. Meanwhile, Tabitha whacked Kamina again for being so reckless and stupid, and sat down in a corner, reading a book, too exhausted to treat any more wounds.

It was then that Siesta spoke up, after Kamina had sheathed Derf. Apparently, the man in the alcove, Salvatore, had given her a key, which she showed them as proof, which opened something in the barracks, and since it was his last will, she wished to do so before anything else. Seeing as they would leave soon anyways, they all agreed, Tabitha using a levitation spell to carry Kirche with them, walking back to her familiar, which was ´parked´ outside the estate, where she would wait for them. As they exited the building, however, they were greeted by the man driving the carriage. Siesta recoiled, and Kamina drew Derf, fully expecting a battle. What he got instead was a heartfelt smile.  
"Thank you. Now my dear Rose can rest in peace." And just like that, when they blinked, he was gone, only a small pendant on the ground. Kamina picked it up, and opened it. Upon seeing its contents, he shut it, and bound the chain around Derf´s hilt.

"It was her father." He said, before marching onwards to the barracks, the others following him. It was almost like the march of a funeral. Fitting, the maid thought to herself, with all the men that died here for her. The barracks were not that far away, and so they entered. What they found was a whole bunch of food which would rot away, as there were no men left to eat it. There were dozens of beds, which would never be used again. And there were dozens of cells, all empty, except for one. In it sat a familiar man.

"Oh, you´re ba – wait. It´s you guys. Where are my mates?" Asked the guard that was to be executed. As a response, he got another question.

"Why are you still alive? Didn´t the bastard order you to be-"

"Pfft, as if. He orders it, sure, but every time he does, we just stay in a cell for the night and come back the next day. He never bats an eye."

Silence.

"So, what brings you here? And where are my mates?"

Siesta stepped forward, and held up the key.

"Hold on, where did you get that?"

She bit her lip.

"Hey, I asked you a-"

" _They´re dead."_

"Come again?"

"Your friends, they are dead."

Silence.

"You´re kidding, right? No one can beat Salvatore, he-"

"He gave me this key and told me to come here with his final breath."

"…how did he die?"

"I don´t know. He was wounded gravely, and even with triangle class healing, he-"

" **That´s not what I´m asking. I´m asking who´s responsible."**

Siesta unlocked the door, and opened it. She took a step forward, now standing right in front of him, looking himself straight in the eye. She recalled what Derf had told her earlier. _"Listen, kiddo. You´re not responsible for any of this. They made their choice. You wanted to live. They decided to fight for that. The guilt that you bear for their decision is only the burden that you choose to carry."_ Steeling herself, she spoke.

"Me."

Silence.

"How?" He asked, his hands angrily twitching.

"Monsters were after me. They tried to protect me, and-"

The man punched her in the face, and pulled her up from the ground by her hair, holding a dagger to her throat.

"Give me one good reason to not immediately end you right now."

Siesta gave the others a stern look, and they sheathed their weapons. Once that was done, she resumed her conversation, albeit with some difficulty, as her hair being held so forcefully hurt enough to make speaking quite hard. However, her pain was nothing to the pain the guards felt, and so she pulled through.

"If you kill me now, then their sacrifice would be in vain."

"How do I know they sacrificed themselves? What you somehow manipulated the monsters into killing them?" He rebuked, pushing into her skin with his weapon.

She had no answer to that.

"…what did he call you? Salvatore, what did he call you when you heard his last words?"

As she replayed the conversation in her head, one word stuck out.

" _Ragazza_."

He let go of her.

"Then you speak the truth." He said, before sheathing his dagger. He moved to leave, but was held back.

"What does it mean?"

"It´s Romanian. In our language, it means girl."

"How could you tell that it was so important?"

"…Salvatore was a weird fellow. He called those he fought with _fratello,_ those that have blood on their hands were either _donna_ or _uomo_ , those that are innocent he called children. _Ragazzo,_ or in your case, _ragazza._ "

She nodded as she soaked in the details about the man she had only spoken to so briefly.

"I´m going to pick up their keepsakes. Once I´m done, set this place on fire."

"But-"

"It´s what they would have wanted." He left, slamming the door behind him, making everyone flinch. An hour later, the man returned to the barracks, putting something in his pocket. Without much delay, Colbert amassed a gigantic fireball, and set the mansion on fire, making sure to spread it onto the other parts of the house as well. They made sure to let the animals loose before, so there would be no casualties.

"Say, why did you not use this in the fight against those things?" Kamina asked him, to which he got a simple response.

"Because unlike Miss Tabitha, I care about not hitting those that are not my target." Kamina´s eyes widened. So those spikes of ice in the corpses were..:!  
"Yes. She is as much a stone cold killer as those she killed." The man gritted his teeth. He badly wanted to shout out how wrong the teacher was, but he´d seen Tabitha´s reaction to the prospect of the men dying.

"… _so?"_

That was it. That was all she said on the matter. He hated it, but had to accept that Tabitha simply did not care about those men. He would get to the bottom of this. There had to be a reason. But right now, he was too tired for that. The man yawned, and let himself fall over, being barely able to stand in the first place. He made a mental note to thank Zerbst for helping Siesta later that week, and fell asleep. Meanwhile, Siesta and the man talked one last time.

"So, where are you headed?" She asked him, making him look at the sun that rose above the mountains in the distance.

"No clue. Probably the capital. I have to inform their families. Though I only know about Salvatore´s. No idea where to start with the others."

"Oh? Where would that be?"

"The capital, duh. Anyways, farewell. Keep your hands clean." He spoke, before turning around, before being stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Hold on! What´s your name?"

"…Archie."

"Nice to meet you, Archie. I am Siesta." She introduced herself with a bow.

"Same." He hopped onto a horse that had been prepared for him, smiled as he gave her a wave, and rode off into the woods. Sighing, Siesta went over to Tabitha, who was reading a book whilst sitting on her dragon with Kirche, who was fast asleep, and climbed on. She turned around, and looked at the two partners. Louise had attached Kamina to a horse with a rope, and climbed up onto the saddle, sitting rather uncomfortably wedged between him and the horse. Siesta giggled a bit, and stuck out a tongue at the noble as the blue haired girl gave her familiar the signal to take off.

Colbert watched as they did, and spurred his horse to go, telling Louise to follow suit. She did so with some difficulty, because of the slight impediment that Kamina´s position gave her, though she managed regardless. She grumbled about how this isn´t how a familiar should repay his master for saving him, but finally, stayed quiet.

"I´m glad you´re okay, Kamina…" She whispered into the wind, the sound being drowned out by the hooves hitting the ground. Until, eventually, she heard chuckling. She reddened. Did he hear that…? Kamina began laughing uncontrollably, trying to inch away from his partner, who got redder and redder with each bellow of laughter.  
"Stop laughing!" He didn´t obey, and instead got even louder. Like a kettle that was bursting, she began emitting a high-pitched screech, until, after the ridicule got too much, she whipped out her wand.

"Dammit Louise, your hair is tickli-"

 **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

 **And on that note, I´ll be ending this "season". I feel a little bad calling it that, what with the delays in updates, the length of it in general and such, but this is a good note to end it on. Oh, and how did you guys like the horror? It´s the first time I ever used an OST in any of my stories, so feedback would be appreciated. Though the fact that these rising violin sound effects are always so short that it´s impossible to read everything in that timespan kind of ticks me off. So, leave a review, and I´ll be off. There is a special event coming up in twelve days that I need to get ready for…bye!**


	13. Chapter 13

**The crab is back. And he brings a chapter most delicious. Now then, I won´t keep you waiting, here´s what you all come here for: the reviews!**

 **insipidscholar917: Well, thank you. I try. Glad to hear that my efforts are not in vain. And here you go. The additional content you hoped for. I do hope myself that you enjoy it as much as the previous chapters.**

 **Kiden: What else should we expect from him, really? It´s Kamina, for fuck sake. And honestly, I don´t care much for God, but I see that for once, his insight was right. Spiral Power for the goddamn win. Against a four story tall robot. With a katana. ...I only just wrapped my head around that.**

 **Oi, God! How does Kamina do it?! What juice does he drink?!**

 **Well, there you go. That´s all of the reviews. I hope you enjoyed. Bye!**

… **hold on. You actually want more story? Fine, I guess, I mean, it´s not like I wrote it for you or anything.**

… **Baka.**

 _Kamina wondered whether he was dreaming. It would certainly explain a few things. For instance, why he was standing on a cliff that overlooked this weird, moving blue earth, which could apparently reflect the light from the sunset. If he were to compare it to anything he knew, he would have to say that it was an oversized puddle. Granted, a blue puddle, but a puddle nonetheless. Now, far more pressing than something as silly as a giant puddle, there was someone standing in front of the edge of said cliff. And she looked rather familiar, with that red hair and weird outfit. He´d seen her what felt like just moments ago in the Count´s room, on that portrait._

" _Yoko?" He asked, to confirm his suspicions. The woman giggled, and turned around. She was wearing glasses over her golden pupils, and her open hair flowed gracefully with her motions._

" _Yes, Kamina. It´s me. Long time no see." She said with a smile. He needed roughly ten seconds to process this fact fully, during which she became slightly embarrassed. "What? We meet again after all this time, and you say nothing? Hmph." She attempted to get him to talk with that, adding a small pout for good measure._

" _O-oh. Sorry. It´s just, well…you look different from when I last saw you." He replied sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. This made her put a finger on her chin as she thought about his words._

" _Oh yeah, right. I forgot about that. You weren´t there when I became a teacher." That made the man briefly wonder whether he´d misheard, and thusly asked for confirmation._

" _Hold on. Did you leave the Brigade?" The answer he got was rather short._

" _Yep." As were his follow-up questions._

" _Why? How?"_

"… _well, we beat the beastmen and Simon became the leader of humanity. I didn´t want to be involved with governing, and went on my own path. That´s all there is to it." There was a rising suspicion Kamina had, but now he could no longer ignore it. He had to ask._

"… _you…you beat the beastmen? Just how long was I gone?"_

" _...does it matter? All you need to know is that we beat the beastmen, and now live in peace."_

 _He fell to his knees as it hit him. Time must flow differently between whatchamacallit and his home. And now it was proven. He needed to return as soon as possible, or else, Simon and Yoko, before he even got back, they would…! His hand balled up into a fist._

" _Promise me one thing."_

" _Yes? What is it, Kamina?"_

" _Don´t die on me before I come back."_

" _Wait, you´re not dead? You can come back?" She seemed surprised._

" _Yeah, ´bout that. Turns out this little punk called Louise teleported me to another fucking planet. It was pure luck on her part, and technically on mine too. I doubt you guys could´ve treated my wounds as well as they did." Yoko replied in a rather sarcastic manner before trying to get complete assurance that she wasn´t hearing things. You know, even if it is a dream._

" _Well,_ sorry _that we weren´t medical specialists when humanity was about as civilized as the molerats. But back to you, you really aren´t dead?"_

" _Nope. As fit as a fish in water." She was in deep thought once more._

" _That would explain why we never found your body. Guess he was right. Well, good luck in finding a way back I guess." Kamina was grateful, and then went back to his usual brigade-leaderly self._

" _Thanks. I´ll need it. Oh, and once I´ve found the way to travel between the two worlds, tell Simon to prep the Brigade. Cos we need to bring some good old fashioned progress over to this place."_

" _Why is that?"_

 _He filled her in on all the crap he´d seen in the few days he´d been in Halkegenia, from the social stupidity, as he´d come to call the fact that there was aristocrats and commoners in the first place, to the magic, all the way to the insanity of Mott, who was now thankfully dead. But he also told her of the hope he´d seen, how selfless Siesta had been in order to protect him, how there were glimpses of goodness in the aristocrats with Guiche and Tabitha._

" _Hm. That´s quite the story. But what about this Louise? How is she?"_

" _Well…does the Ganmen Simon stole before I left have any toilets?"_

" _Yes, why?" She was confused._

" _The only thing I´d ever let that brat do on my damn Ganmen is cleaning them." Yoko burst out laughing, and she asked a question she knew the answer to, only to keep her own mirth going._

" _You won´t even let her into the canteen?" As expected, he answered exactly what was needed for her to laugh more._

" _Nope. I won´t let her touch anything that enters my body. Ever. She´d probably poison me, accidentally or on purpose. Even if she didn´t, her cooking probably tastes like Charlie´s shit."_

" _I see you placed a fair bit of trust in her."_

" _Yeah. I do. With small things, at least. Like my sex life or my actual life. But I´d never let her touch the food I eat."_

" _What was that about your sex life?"_

" _Oh, no biggie. There is just this one girl that wants to fuck me, and Louise bailed me out of a sticky situation with her. And no, that was not a pun." He quickly added as Yoko stared at him with a suspicious look._

"… _I´ll have my eye on you. Anyways, she sounds like a nice girl. There has to be some reason for her to be as brattish as you say. Help her, Kamina." He chuckled at that. Of course she´d ask that._

" _Way ahead of you, Yoko. She´s still not really opening up to me, though."_

" _But you won´t give up, will you?"_

" _Of course not, after all, just who –" He was rudely interrupted in his most sacred of lines. If it weren´t Yoko, she´d taste his fist._

"… _in the hell do I think you are? Well, I think you are a wonderful man, and the one I´ll love for all eternity. Also, just on the side, the most insane demon leader the Gurren Brigade has ever known. Even if Simon did come quite close that one time he took on the Spiral King by himself." The compliments did also help in ridding himself of that immense fury._

"… _so he´s finally gotten out of my shadow, huh?" He said, staring up at the orange sky. Though nothing could prepare him for the answer that was to come._

" _Yep. Took him long enough. He even has a girlfriend now!" His shock knew no bounds._

" _HE WHAT?!"_

" _I know, right! She was the whole reason he managed to get over your disappearance, and they are such a wonderful couple. Her name is Nia, and they are so damn cute together, it makes me jealous! Why aren´t you more like Simon?" She said as she elbowed him in the side with a teasing glint in her eyes._

" _Oi, Yoko. In my time, we´ve been together for about a week or two. How am I supposed to match Simon with such little time?!"_

" _Well, try harder! You are Kamina, after all! And for me, our relationship has lasted longer. A lot longer. And from what I`ve seen, I cannot help but be disappointed. I almost feel like I should break up with you."_

" _Well, that would be your loss, now would it?"_

" _Nah, I can always fall back on Kittan. He showed some interest last time I saw him."_

" _THAT GUY?!"_

 _She burst into laughing again at his rage-filled cry. It took a while for her to settle down, as did he, and after a while, they sat down on the edge of the cliff, and watched the waves._

" _You never did see the ocean, did you, Kamina?"_

" _Nope. So this is what it looks like, eh?"_

" _It´s beautiful, isn´t it?"_

" _Not as beautiful as you."_

" _Now where have I heard that one before?" She teased, knowing full well that many of the men in the Brigade did have a thing for her, and she´d heard that exact line several times, most notably from..._

" _Well, unlike that bastard Kittan, I mean it."_

" _Now where have I heard that one before?" She repeated, just to mock him, but he wasn´t exactly fazed._

" _Well, look me in the face and say that again." She teasingly hit his arm._

" _I know. You don´t just give out compliments willy-nilly."_

" _Heh. Took you long enough."_

Kamina.

 _He blinked._

" _Did you say something?"_

" _Hm? No."_

Kamina.

 _There it was again._

" _I swear on my father´s grave that you just said my name."_

" _Ah, I see. It seems our time is up."_

" _What?"_

" _Well, every dream must end sooner or later, right?" She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "See you."_

"Kamina!"

"Gah!" Kamina opened his eyes right as Louise slapped him on the cheek. "What the hell was that for?!"

"You didn´t wake me up as you should´ve! Instead, here I am, trying to make you get up because otherwise we´ll be late for breakfast! Since you didn´t reply to me calling you, what else was I supposed to – gya!" She was interrupted by him grabbing her cheek and pulling it to the side. She retorted by pulling his hair, causing him to once more yell out in pain. In return, he pulled harder.

"Gah! You damn brat!"  
"Gya! You shtupid dog!"

"Um…am I interrupting?" Came a voice from the door, and the two turned to face Siesta. Their answer was perfectly synchronized.

"Yes!"  
"Yesh!"

Standing there for a minute to fully process this weird, yet kind of expected scene, she smiled, and just quickly told them what she came to say. "Alright. Just remember, breakfast will start soon. Don´t be late. And Kamina, the others want to speak with you."

"Okay, Siesta."  
"Yesh, comm – ow!" Kamina pulled harder on her cheeks once she was about to use the wrong title again.

"Call her by her name, you – ouch!" In return, Louise nearly ripped out his perfect hairline.

"Fine! Shiesta, we´ll be down shoon! Now leave ush alone! I need to teach thish fool a leshon!"

"See you, Miss Vallière." Siesta responded as she closed the door behind her. Needless to say, once the maid was gone, they continued their fight until neither of them remembered what exactly it was that caused this dispute in the first place. Naturally, they then returned to their routine in which Louise threw her partner out the door to get dressed.

Once that was done and she exited her room, her gaze fell on Kamina, in particular on the bandages that he was now forced to wear after the healer stitched him back together two nights ago, albeit in a more figurative sense this time. The woman nearly fainted when she laid her eyes on his wounds, and after she was done with the medical procedure, she gave him a good earful (tried to, at least), though Louise had her suspicions about him already being asleep at that point. Having to drag him back to her room was not fun, nor easy. Which made her curse the fact that Mister Colbert was too exhausted to help/was forbidden to by the healer when she examined his injuries. At least the maid helped.

Infuriatingly, he was wearing the bandages almost like a medal of honour, as if the results of his stupidity were anything to brag about. Even if he slept away a whole day after said stupidity. Letting out a sigh, she tapped him on the arm, and he stopped staring out the window, knowing that it was time to go eat his loaf of bread. For the first time in a while, nothing of note happened during their meal. No Kirche, no Guiche, no fake sense of security, nothing. It made Louise worry. There was something at the back of her mind, nagging her that she´d forgotten about…a thing. Or was it a person? Or an event? All of the above? She had no idea.

"Well, I´ll be heading off then. The others are waiting." Kamina spoke, and before he could leave, she asked him.

"Two questions: who are ´the others´, and is there something I´ve forgotten?"

"Firstly, ´the others´ are the poor guys that work in order to create the magic on your plate, and secondly, I have no clue. Ask your noble friends. See ya."

Before she could protest, he´d already left her general vicinity, meaning any attempt would be heard by the other aristocrats. Giving credit where it was due, the word _"Clever…"_ went through her head as she scooped up some soup in her spoon and gulped it down. Huh. It was the same soup she´d had a few days ago, but this one somehow tasted…worse? It was hard to put it into words. Lacking. That was it. It was lacking something. Regardless, her lesson in alchemy would start soon. She left, with half her soup unfinished, to get ready for class.

In the meantime, Kamina had reached the door of the kitchen, and silently wondered to himself as he opened the door. _"Would´ve honestly expected Louise to call me back. Welp, not gonna turn down good fortune."_ As he entered, everything stood still, and a familiar awkward atmosphere took hold of the room. Grinning, Kamina put on his glasses. "What´s up, my friends? Missed me?" Cheering. Lots and lots of cheering. Hot damn, he nearly felt his ear drums burst from all the cheering. After he recovered from the daze with a little help from a familiar slap on his back, he came face to face with the best cook he knew.

"I should´ve known you´d do it. I should´ve bloody known! And yet, I still can´t believe that you actually managed to get Siesta back from that bastard! You…I…" The man was literally brought to tears. "I don´t know how I could ever thank you, Kamina." In response, Kamina slapped his back.

"First off, wipe those tears off your face. They don´t suit you, Marteau. Besides, I never did it for Siesta. She didn´t want to be saved. I did it for Derf. Second, I´m starving, so you could help me with that if you really want to thank me."

Marteau just stared at him, then eventually, as a grin formed on his teary face, he wiped his eyes with his muscular arms. "Heh. Ever the humble champion, I see. Everyone!" With his change to a commanding tone, every servant straightened up. "This calls for a feast! Begin with the preparations immediately!"

"Aye, sir!" Replied the mass of people, before the whole place whirred to life once more. Everything seemed to work like a well-oiled machine as the servants darted about, helping with ingredients, tools, and cooking. Meanwhile, the chef had already led Kamina to a familiar table.

"Just wait here for a minute. Oh, and you better be ready for the best feast you´ve ever had in your whole damn life!"

"Of course. By the way, you guys better prepare yourselves too. For the greatest tale you´ll ever hear in your whole damn lives!"

"Har! I´ll believe it when I hear it!"

"Sir, here´s your aperitif." A servant brought a plate filled with a few bread slices, which were topped off with oily tomatoes and herbs.

"Already?!"

"What do you expect? This is Marteau´s kitchen! ´Quick and tasty´ is our motto!"

"This is good." Kamina replied as he took a bite from one of the bread slices.

"It better be! Or else this guy´ll get a taste of Marteau´s fury!"

"Sir, your next aperitif." Another plate arrived a few seconds later.

"…but I just finished the first." Was his reply as he gulped down the last slice.

"Well, you better buckle up, because they´ll keep on coming." The next plate arrived as he spoke the word ´on´.

"Sir, enjoy your third aperitif."

"Seriously, it´s like you time these just as I finish a plate."

"No sir. We are, in fact, trying to get at least two full plates on top of this table today. It´s a challenge we set ourselves when we saw you eat the last time."

"You´ll have to do a lot better than that, then."

"Yes sir."

"…also, stop calling me ´sir´. Call me by my name."

"Okay, Kamina."

"There we go!"

"…I´ll take those plates with me, I guess."

"Sure, go ahead." Kamina said as he finished gulping down the contents of plate #3, with #4 arriving right as the earlier was taken away. Right around # 7, Siesta opened the door, and hurried to the centre of the kitchen, apologizing for her tardiness, as she had to do the laundry today, though her apology went unheard as Marteau observed the man sitting opposite him closely, in order to see whether anyone screwed up the taste of the meal. If they did, the fury of the chef would make them regret it. As for Kamina, he was happily stuffing himself; sleeping a day away makes a man hungry. So the maid sighed with a smile as she saw the scene, shaking her head as she took a seat next to Marteau, placing a folded piece of cloth on her lap in the process. He would never change, now would he?

This whole feast went on for what must´ve been hours (one and a half, to be exact), and right around plate # 343, Marteau told the servants to stop, who all collectively collapsed to the floor. "I think it´s time for the story. In the interest of both my friends and the Academy´s stocks."

"Alright. Now then, my friends, gather round! For I have a tale to tell, and it´s a great tale indeed!" Kamina seemed as energetic as ever. His attitude seemed to invigorate the others enough to actually stand up despite their exhaustion and from a circle around the table; apparently, Kamina´s energy rubbed off on others when he spoke. "Now then, it all started…" His story lasted a while, as they usually do, easily doubling the time that this whole event took. Eventually, after he´d pleased the crowd enough, he ended it on what he felt like was a good spot. As in, right after he fell asleep after the healer fixed him up. "That´s all, folks!" And once more, the cheers nearly erased his sense of hearing.

"Har! That was a great tale, I`ll give you that. Now then, Siesta, how much of that was fake?" Marteau asked, and all of a sudden, Kamina paled slightly.

"Well…"Siesta seemed to be in thought as she pondered whether or not to expose Kamina´s very few, but ever so present lies. Like how he didn´t actually wake up from sheer willpower from Tabitha´s spell. Or how the Count did not actually have a sword which he immediately sliced in half. Or perhaps far more pressing, how he did not, in fact, have a fistfight with that… _that._ It was hard to properly title that thing that resulted from Rose´s puzzle skills. "Basically nothing. From what I know, all of it is true." White lies never hurt anybody. As do embellishments. Besides, why be a downer when, for the first time, there´s an upward swing in the mood of these people? He gave them hope. No need to trample that very hope that she, too, clung to.

"But more importantly…" She stood up, and held out the folded cloth she´d been holding on to for this entire time. "Take this. Think of it as my thank you for saving me." Kamina grabbed her gift, and unfolded it in front of himself with a curious expression. It was a very well sown jacket, a dark blue one with two buttons to close it; though silently, the women hoped he didn´t know how to use them. They´d miss those abs (even if they were covered in bandages at the moment). Grinning, he immediately put it on, and it felt heavenly. It was a perfect fit. At least in his mind. In everyone else´s eyes, that jacket was too loose on him. To be honest, Siesta did it on purpose, to allow the cloth to flow in the wind when he would heroically strike a pose. Which is essentially every hour or two.

"Thanks, Siesta! I love it! Reminds me of…Simon…"

He ignored the cheers that made his friend blush. Sure, the others right now were making rather silly comments about them being the perfect couple, and usually, he´d make rather loud retorts to the idiots that would propose it, but his mind was somewhere else right now. His brother no longer needed him, Yoko told him as much in his dream. Should he even be looking for a way back?

"Kamina?"

What a stupid question. Of course he should. It probably was just that. A dream. Shaking his head to rid himself of the doubtful expression he realized he was probably wearing, he looked at the maid once more.

"Yes, Siesta? What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. You looked down for a second, that´s all."

"Nah, I´m fine." He then jumped off the table, and held out a hand toward Marteau. "Well anyways, I´ll be heading off. Louise is probably looking for me. Thanks a bunch for the meal!"

"Speaking of her, what are you guys going to do for the Familiar Exhibition?" The cook asked as they shook hands, making Kamina adopt a confused look.

"Familiar what now?"

"You haven´t heard? In three days, the Princess herself will arrive at this Academy to observe the students and their familiars doing a performance."

"…tell me more, Marteau. This sounds fun."

Meanwhile, it dawned on Louise. She remembered just what exactly it was that she´d forgotten. It was, in fact, all of the above. She tried her very best to concentrate on the lesson, but couldn´t as all her brain power was frantically trying to figure out what she´d make Kamina perform. In front of the princess, no less! It had to be the safest, least insane thing she´d ever make him do. Anything. She´d give anything for him to do something normal. No swordplay, no talking, nothing. Just…flexing his muscles for all she cared.

The second the teacher declared the lesson to be over, she collected her things, and darted out of the room faster than the bell could ring, ignoring her peers´ stares and jeers. Where was he? She checked her room. Nope. Vestri Court? Nope. The washing corner? Nope. Where in the name of the Founder was he?! She spent her entire afternoon looking for him, even going as far as skipping lunch for him, and yet, he was nowhere to be found! What a stupid dog, she thought to herself as she dropped on her bed. He was probably goofing off with that maid. The door opened, causing her to stand up and turn to yell at him. "Now listen here, Kami – what are you doing here, Montmorency?"

"Well, I´m looking for Guiche, and the last time he´s been seen, he was with your familiar. So obviously, I want you to tell me where they went. Guiche might be in trouble!" The blonde stated, apparently shaken, though Louise waved her off.

"Don´t worry. Kamina might be stupid, but he doesn´t just beat people up for no reason. Even if his reasons themselves are stupid." This did nothing to alleviate Montmorency´s fears. To be honest, Louise didn´t exactly want to in the first place.

"B-but Guiche…!"

"Look, I don´t know either! I´ve been looking for him all day, but it´s like he´s disappeared off the face of the earth! …leave, please. I have studying to do."

"Hmph! W-well, it´s only natural for the Zero to have to study to –"

"It would be a shame if anything happened to your fancy alchemist lab, now would it?"

"You wouldn´t dare!"

"Leave then."

"Fine, Zero!" She slammed the door. That felt good, Louise had to admit that. Getting back at her bully like that. Especially since that one had no one else to back her up this time, and was acting in a way that her own fiancée had admitted was wrong. She wondered how long that relationship would last. Sitting down at her makeup desk, she decided to spend some time cleaning herself up. Running around earlier made her far less presentable than she or her mother would´ve liked, and that was unacceptable. She was just in time for dinner as she entered the dining hall an hour later, and sat down at her usual spot.

" _Please Founder, let that stupid dog return as quickly as possible. I can´t bear any more shame."_ She prayed, and for once, they were answered, as someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was him. The second Louise saw his grinning face, she needed to exert every bit of self-control she could muster to not claw his face to pieces. "Where were you?" She asked with an incredibly restrained tone, and he scratched his head with a questioning look.

"Could ask you the same thing. Where were you at lunch? I waited quite some time for you, but you never showed." She turned toward her plate, and began dining. Whether she was embarrassed to not look in the obvious spot and didn´t want to face that, or she was simply hungry, she didn´t know.

"Louise?" She opted for the latter.

"Be quiet. I´m hungry. Besides, you still haven´t answered my question."

"Oh, that. I was preparing for that exhibition thing that´s coming up." The mage nearly spat out the rather tasty food she was eating, but stopped herself as she fumbled an answer together.

"Y-you what?"

"Well, Marteau told me about it, and I had a few ideas. So after lunch, I got the helping hands I need."

"W-what will you do?"

"Oh, I´ll leave that to your imagination." She grabbed him by the collar with a scary look in her eyes, and yet, the panic that she was only hiding because of their current location was all too palpable.

"What. Will. You. Do."

"Okay, geez, let go! It´s not anything crazy. I´m just gonna put on a small performance, nothing special. I used to do this all the time back home." She still seemed very concerned, as she barraged him with questions and a justification in quick succession.

"What kind of performance? Is it safe? Is it vulgar? The princess will be watching, so it must be –" She was interrupted by Kamina who calmed her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, yes, it´s safe, and completely free of ´bad words´. Just relax, okay? Trust me for once."

" _Not on your life."_ Is what Louise would´ve answered, but the earnest way Kamina asked her to trust him, in addition to him trusting her with what was basically his life twice now, once with Kirche, and against Mott´s creation, made her shut it. "Fine." She reluctantly responded after a while, and she let go of him, albeit only after noticing the whispers around them. Better not help start any rumours. Doctors say that rumours can shorten your life span by a huge margin.

Like her aunt. She died at the age of 42, all because someone started a rumour about her having an affair with her head servant when she had just turned 41. Lies, of course, but after a year had passed, she seemed a lot wearier and older than she used to. Grey hairs, wrinkles and frowns took over her once youthful face, until one day, she was found in an eternal sleep in her bed. Whilst in thought, Louise remembered something, and told him as he took a bite from his loaf of bread.

"Before I forget, the maid came by yesterday and told me that they have a room for you. It´ll ready for you in about two days."

"Why can´t I just move in now?"

"Because they need to clean the place and put in some furniture. It used to be a room meant for storing food, but apparently, they managed to empty it for you."

Kamina had a very good idea as to the whereabouts of said food as a small, and thankfully quiet burp found its way to his mouth.

"Regardless, from now on, whenever you leave for an extended period of time, I want you to have a servant inform me of what you´re doing. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Mistress Vallière." He replied in the most mocking tone he could muster with the bread in his mouth.

"And don´t speak while you´re chewing!"

"Yes, Mistress Vallière." He spoke in the same infuriating tone after swallowing his dinner. "Alright then, guess I´d better rehearse. See you around."

"When will you be back?"

"No clue. I´ll be in the washing corner though, so you should see me from your window. That´s the only place I ever seem to find the way to. _Fucking piece of shit maze…_ " He muttered the last part to himself as he left the dining hall, and left a somewhat less worried Louise behind, who took to enjoying her meal. The soup still didn´t have that good taste she remembered though.

 **Well, that´s a nice start to the next part, now ain´t it? Let´s hope the updates don´t take forever from now on. Cos this was written in a single day. Gonna toot my own horn for that. Anyways, ze plot, how do zey say, it seems to be going just as expected. But trust me, I have something up my sleeve that has yet to be done. Let´s just say that the Queen will be present at that show. I´ll leave the rest up to your imagination. Now then, leave a review if you feel inclined to do so, and if you do, you can bet your ass that I´ll answer in the next chapter. When that is? No clue. Taking a guess…I´d say when I have enough to respond to (i.e. a single review). Now then, hope you enjoyed! Bye!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Huh. Seven days. That´s almost a new record for updating this story. Someone check that. Anyways, here I am, bringing you some more of dat spicy review reviewing *clap* *clap*.**

 **Hashirama 1710: Ah, yes, I do so love to add those little extra bits after a sentence is technically over. A semantical over-the-edge-pusher, if you will. Glad to see you enjoyed one of them, at the very least. I do hope the rest of the story is to your liking as well.**

 **Guest: Unsure whether that´s a complaint or a good thing; since I like Connery´s Bond, though, I´ll take it as a compliment. Even if Kamina will do roughly zero sneaking in this fic. He´s too manly for that.**

 **Now then, this review review is now over. *clap* *clap*. I personally give it a 399/10. Let´s get to the next review! This one is even in the format of another chapter, and I personally wrote it myself!**

The days leading up to the Familiar Exhibition passed quicker than Charlie´s dung does through his arse when he has diarrhoea. And over the course of those days, Kamina was constantly tried on how well he could stay sane. Not due to pressure to perform well or anything of the sort. Nope, it was something much simpler, and annoying. A worrywart.

"So, how is your rehearsal going?" Louise would ask each and every time they met, usually when they were eating.

"It´s going fine. For the umpteenth time, stop worrying." His answer would be, after an exasperated sigh.

"But…" She´d try to rebut…

"Didn´t you say that you´d trust me?"…only to be cut off with a question that put her on the spot. And after a few seconds, she´d cave in.

"Alright. I´m sorry. It´s just that the princess will be there and…" She´d trail off, and he´d interject with his classic phrase whenever someone had trouble believing in him.

"Louise, just who the hell do you think I am?" Her answer would then turn the tables.

"A stupid dog." It riled him up quite a bit.

"Woof." And for the lack of any better retort, he´d just play along. Better not risk Monsieur Wand to come to teach him manners. He was rather careless when it came to not hurting bystanders with his explosive personality. As cool as explosions were, Kamina would not risk it. However, on the day before the exhibition, something was different. Once breakfast was over, the students and servants were called to the Main Gate.

"Hey, Louise. What´s all this about?" He asked, and Louise, seemingly unaware of his question, just stared at the ground as they made their way over to the courtyard. "Oi, Louise." No response. He moved closer to her. "Louise." Her mind was apparently in another dimension entirely. So he poked the bee´s nest. Also known as her cheek. That apparently got her attention, as after a surprised gasp, he also received something on his cheek. A red mark in the shape of a hand.

"You disrespectful…!" She was about to start screeching, but considering their current location in the entry to the courtyard, she swallowed her anger. It would be unsightly. "What do you want?" Having somewhat regained her composure, the very small amount of people that heard her very short moment of disgrace lost interest and went back to whatever it was they were doing. Meanwhile, her ´familiar´ repeated his question. "Oh, the princess will be arriving shortly. That´s why everyone present in the Academy will be in that courtyard to welcome her." Kamina raised an eyebrow.

"Don´t they have anything better to do?" He quickly realized that he poked the bee´s nest again, however, unlike before, he didn´t poke with a stick, but with his actual finger.

"As if there is anything better to do than greet the princess!" Well, she didn´t seem to give a damn anymore about the others. The princess was a touchy subject, apparently.

"Okay, okay, geez! Calm down, will ya!"

"Why should I calm down when…" Louise quickly caught on to his thoughts when he glanced behind her, then back to her, signalling that people were staring. She quickly faked a cough. "Excuse me." She added, and she switched topics at that point. Speaking about the princess was bad. It made her lose her cool, and that was the one thing she couldn´t do. **Rule of Steel**. " _Thank you._ " The mage whispered to him, before deciding to opt for the other thing on her mind. "So…how´s your rehearsal going?"

"Oh for –" Kamina was about to yell, but when he saw her go for Monsieur Wand, he shut up. She had started to pre-emptively reach for him whenever she expected the man to raise his voice; that, or she had ludicrously fast reflexes. Regardless, he was silent as they headed toward the crowd. It was essentially arranged like a regular parade, two masses of people on both sides of the road, and those in charge, aka Old Osmond and Mister Colbert together with the rest of the faculty, were waiting in front of the entrance to the main building, where they´d give the royalty the official welcome. Of course, the crowd was responsible for the unofficial ones, with added cheering.

Whilst Kamina stood there, he thought about the many better things he could be doing instead. Like eating the leftovers from breakfast. Rehearsing. Taking care of Derf. Eating lunch. Racing Charlie. Virtually anything was better than standing around staring at nothing. It had been about fifteen minutes when finally, he heard the beats of hooves on the road. He grumbled to himself how "It took long enough.", as the carriage, preceded and followed by around a dozen people on Charlies in total, entered through the gate, and instantly, loud cheers erupted from the crowd. His bloody ears hurt. In all honesty, this wasn´t as bad as the servants a few days ago, but still, that curse about his ears might not be that far off.

Though to be honest, his focus was more on the Charlies pulling the carriage. They were completely white, and…were those horns? Were these…demon Charlies? "Hey, Louise, are those –" Well, after seeing her expression, he was absolutely certain that her mind was once more in that other dimension. Perhaps she didn´t get enough sleep. Nah. This was Louise. The same kid that went to bed an hour after the sun set and got up as it rose. That made what, 11 hours of sleep? Yeah, she was good on that front, even if his math was probably off. He never was good at that.

It was at that point that he turned back to look at the carriage, and what do you know, the door was being opened by a grumpy looking blonde, who had been at the front of the group when it arrived. Out of the white cabin stepped a girl, probably around the age of the students here, with purple hair and cloak. In contrast to the female students, her dress was far longer; it ended just above her ankles and was a mixture of light blue and white colouring, though it did share similarities with some uniforms at this Academy. Specifically, it hugged her curves the same way the servant´s clothes did. And man, what a sight it was to behold.

Kamina glanced at Louise to make sure she didn´t notice just what he was staring at, but she herself was completely smitten with the princess, it seemed, as her eyes were shining with admiration beyond anything he´d ever seen. So once he turned around again, he noted that the girl was looking around the crowd, until her blue eyes fell on him, and smiled as she gave a wave. Actually, that was wrong. She was looking at…

"Louise, do you know her?" He asked as he saw her raise a hand to wave back, though she froze at his question.

"O-of course I do. She´s the princess…"

"You know what I mean." The mage fell silent, and lowered her gaze. He looked back to the purple-haired girl, and she was now waving toward the other side of the crowd. Huh. Maybe it was just that. Well, what did he care anyways? It´s not like the princess would just wave at a friend of hers in broad daylight where everyone was watching. It did not fit into the ´proper´ way the nobles here behaved, from what he´d seen at least. He watched as she walked toward the teachers, who bowed as she approached, and after exchanging a few words, they led her inside. The crowd began to disperse after the doors shut.

And from what he could hear from the chattering, that girl was quite popular. Many thought she was beautiful, and he wouldn´t exactly be rushing to deny that, and that despite the tragedy that befell her, whatever that was, she still managed to smile so sincerely, which showed her genuine selflessness when it came to putting her people before her self. Regardless, he had a down looking Louise on his hands now.

"What´s the matter?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder; wanting to help her climb from the depths that the bullies had thrown her into, showing this amount of concern was the least he could do. It seemed to stir her slightly, as she shook herself out of her thoughts, and slapped his hand, as she usually did when he touched her in any way.

"Nothing. Class will be starting in a minute. I need to go." She stated matter-of-factly. It was painfully obvious that she did not want to talk about it. Yet, he pressed a bit further. Talking made you feel better. That was just a fact of life. He´d seen it time and again, whenever Simon was down, and after they´d just have a heart-to-heart, he would become much more cheerful. Until Kamina was imprisoned later that day for another attempted breakthrough to the surface. Good times.

"Louise. You can talk to me." Kamina tried to coax her out of her shell, but to little avail. She broke free from his fairly weak grip, and ran (because of her _properness_ , it was more of a brisk walk). He didn´t bother giving chase. If she acted like that, then she would not talk, not even if he caught up. It must be a _really_ touchy subject for her to act like that. He tried to piece it together from what he knew, but unfortunately for him, during his musings, someone showed up to signal the terminal stop of his train of thought.

"Kamina, we´re done setting up your new room."

"Oh, thanks, Siesta." He answered. Then, after he put on a confused expression, followed by being very deep in thought, he sighed as a sheepish grin formed on his face. "Um, Siesta? Remind me what I was thinking of just before you came along,"

"I´d like to know myself, to tell the truth." She answered with a smile. "You looked so deep in thought. It was kind of cute."

Well, the train seemed to have now gone past the terminal stop and just decided to derail itself completely. He couldn´t bring out anything, really. That comment was unexpected, to say the least. Coughing, he got back on track. On a different one than he was looking for, however. "Anyways, could you show me where exactly my room is?"

"Sure!" She replied with a giggle, and off they went. For the first time, Kamina saw the inside of the servant´s quarters, which were in a separate tower from the rest. Unlike the main building, which housed the student´s rooms, this place was built with a lot more wood than stone, which on one hand, gave it a much more homely feel and welcoming atmosphere, but on the other, you kinda had the feeling that you had gotten the short straw; wood was a lot cheaper and weaker than stone, after all. As they trotted along, something occurred to our hero.

"Wasn´t my place a storage for food before?" He asked, and after Siesta confirmed his memory, he then immediately followed up with another question. "Then why are we in the servant´s quarters? Wouldn´t a storage be closer to the kitchen?" The maid seemed astonished.

"I´m surprised. I would have expected you to overlook that." She replied with honest, yet so very teasing surprise. Obviously, the mighty Kamina was irritated at that.

"Hey! I´m not a bloody dumbass!" He responded, and to the girl´s "Of course.", he just grumbled. He wasn´t that stupid!

"Anyway, the answer is simple. We only stored tea, fruit, and other foods of the sort in this particular storage, because it is meant for tea time, when the nobles sit on the tables in the court we just came from." She finally answered his question, and he nodded, though he was still grumpy. Eventually, they arrived at a certain door, and without delay, Siesta opened it and pushed him in. And immediately, his nose thanked him for it.

"Holy crap, this place smells good." He said as he took in the air of his new room. It was filled to the brim with the aroma of the fruit that had been here just a few days ago, and he just couldn´t get enough of it.

"Enjoy it while it lasts. It´ll be gone in a week or two." A familiar voice interrupted him, and he turned to face Marteau, who was sweating as he exited another doorway.

"Oh, hello. What are you doing here?" Kamina asked him, and the chef simply stepped aside to show Kamina the giant pot in the next room. It had wood stacked beneath it, together with some hay, and looked as if it´d seen better days before; its surface was incredibly uneven, with a few dents here and there, and on top of that, the soot that had been left on it by all the flames in the kitchen only extended halfway up, resulting in this odd mix of grey and black colouring. The man still liked the look of it though. Those ´decorations´ gave him the feel as if they were scars – that, of course, meant that this pot was a goddamn badass for having so many scars.

"Just bringing you your bathtub." Was the short answer, and after Marteau explained that outside his window was the WC, he understood that for a good bath, he could literally jump out the window and fetch the water necessary for it. After that, the cook left, and took Siesta with him, telling her that Old Osmond had asked for a feast to welcome the princess. _"I don´t think he´ll be happy about us emptying this room with that feast the other day."_ He whispered to her, something that caused her ever so slight unease as she couldn´t exactly deny it.

" _At least it´s not tea time."_ She answered, and Marteau nodded as they exited the room, leaving Kamina all to himself. Since he had nothing better to do and it was nowhere near lunchtime, testing out his bathtub seemed like a good idea. However, he remembered that he had to tell the chef something, and quickly opened the door to yell down the hallway.

"Hey, Marteau! We´ll skip the practice at lunch for today!"

"Alright! I´ll pass that on to the boy then!" Came the reply shortly after, and, having dealt with everything, Kamina closed the door and started preparing his bath by opening the window, by using a bucket he found next to his tub (he was convinced it was just an old pot Marteau wanted to get rid of (not that he´d complain about his badass bathtub), got the water he needed straight from the river below his window. Once his tub was full enough for him, he lit a fire on the hay beneath the iron pot, and climbed in after undressing and making sure the water was decently warm. He also reminded himself to hang a towel on the stand just an arm´s length away from the tub.

It felt heavenly enough to make him sigh. The water was just right, washing away all the stress and frustration that had built up from all the bullshit that had transpired over the time he´d arrived here. The man let his mind wander over the events that had happened over his stay in whatchamacallit-land. From his first awakening, to meeting Louise, to seeing just what she was capable of, to then witnessing the stupidity that was the ´norm´ trying to destroy her, to making the decision to get her out of that mess and help her believe in herself, to meeting Siesta and the nobles that tried to do her harm; one of which had since changed his ways and was now on a path to better himself, and the other was dust. Thinking of Mott, why was that portrait of Yoko in his mansion? That was still a mystery that Kamina had yet to unravel. Definitely something he should take care of after his performance tomorrow. However, his thoughts began trailing off more and more as the warm embrace of the water made him so very relaxed that he didn´t even notice his eyes closing just before he fell asleep.

And of course, what else would wake him but screeching. His eyes shot open the second the familiar sound entered his ears, and he responded in kind with a surprised yell.

"W-w-why are you –" Louise started to complain from the doorway, but was cut off nigh instantly.

"Geez, you scared the crap out of me!" He exclaimed after recovering from the shock, and his apparent nonchalantness about the fact that she was here, seeing him naked (even if the embarrassing half was hidden beneath the water), caused the mage´s beet red face to scrunch up in an angry expression.

"Y-y-you could h-have at least told me that you were taking a b-bath!" She pointed at him accusingly as she said that, and he raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh, I don´t exactly care. I do want to hit you for waking me up though. I was having such a wonderful dream about – nevermind." Before he finished that thought, he stopped himself. Better not tell Louise what his dream was. It would either make things even more awkward, or just plain result in his awesome new tub being blown to smithereens. As cool as that would be to look at, he didn´t plan on only having one bath during his stay here. "So, why are you here?" He finally got around to ask, and his partner was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that he didn´t care whatsoever that she was seeing him like this.

"Y-you p-p-p-perverted…!" She couldn´t even bring herself to finish that sentence. Shrugging, Kamina answered that if all she came for was to throw insults at him, she may as well go, now that she had done so, and leave him to his nap. "Um, well…j-j-just look out the w-window." She replied meekly, before heading back outside. Confused, Kamina did as she asked, and quickly put two and two together when he saw the orange light.

"Crap! It´s almost time for dinner!" The man realized out loud, and knowing that, he hopped out of the water which he just now noticed was rather cold, dried himself with the towel, threw on his clothes, and within less than a minute, with his hair still dripping a few drops of water, he all but leapt out the door, after checking and seeing that the fire had long since gone out. The second he´d gone through the frame, he slammed the door shut with his foot, which unfortunately caused him to stumble a bit, and fall flat on his face, right next to the opposite wall. Grunting, he stood up, and came face to face with a Louise whose face was as red as he remembered, who was twiddling her thumbs and staring at a highly interesting spot on the floor.

" _Sorry."_ Was that the wind?

"Say what?" He asked, moving his face closer to hers, egging her on to repeat herself.

"S-sorry." She did eventually repeat, and this time, it was loud enough for him to hear.

"For what?" He asked with a slightly confused look, and she found another positively fascinating spot on the floor, which conveniently made her shift her eyes away from the general direction of his face.

"Please don´t make me say it." She seemed really uncomfortable, and he sighed as he realized she´d entirely forgotten what he´d said just a minute ago.

"As I already told you, I don´t care that you walked in on me. Shit happens, Louise. Now come on, we´ll be late for dinner." Kamina told her once more, before giving her a pat on her shoulder. This seemed to snap her out of it, and finally, his partner was acting a bit more normal now.

"A-alright. If you don´t care…" It took about a second for her to recover and become the banshee he oh so loved. "Wait, what does it matter what you think!? You perverted…! You almost disgraced me!" He sighed. Some things would never change, now would they?

"Yeah, yeah, let´s just head to the dining hall. I´m starving."

"Well, you should take better care of yourself! You have a Familiar Exhibition to attend tomorrow!" He dreaded the question that was to follow. "Speaking of…" No. "About your performance…" Prinir, was it? Please, make her stop. "How is your rehearsal…?" Yeah, no.

"See you at dinner." He said, before charging off, ignoring Louise´s cries that followed him through the hallway. Even if they were founded in worry, there was a certain point where reassurance does nothing to help, and the only thing he can do to rid her of those unnecessary worries was to simply show her that there was nothing to worry about. He´d prove to her that she could trust him. After all, just who the hell did she think he was?!

Once she arrived in the dining hall, Louise looked around, and her worst worries had, unfortunately, come to pass. Kamina was nowhere to be seen. What was he thinking?! Tomorrow was one of the most important days in her life, and here he was, running away, when all she´d done was ask about his performance. The princess was here to see it, and if Kamina screwed up, the shame, it would be…! The mage shook her head. No. She´d find him after dinner, if it was the last thing she did. He would go back to his room, that was for sure. And she´d be damned if she let him get away with this! If a master let a familiar have this much freedom in such an important event, the least it could do is…it?

She froze right as she took her seat, mulling over the way she´d just thought of Kamina. He was not an ´it´. He was Kamina. And he wasn´t her familiar, either, at least not on a personal level. He was her partner. If he was her familiar, he wouldn´t have not cared about her seeing him naked. Perhaps something worse may have happened if he was…he might´ve…p-pulled her closer to him…a-a-a-and…

It took all her self-control to not scream at her own thoughts. Thankfully, the fact that she was staring at her own reflection in the plate in front of her helped her recognize that she was red and about to utterly humiliate herself, so she quickly **steeled** herself, and with a few deep breaths, managed to calm down. She huffed as she asked a servant to bring her dinner, as she chastised herself for having those kinds of thoughts. After the soup arrived, once more, it felt to her like it was lacking somehow. How odd. What was she thinking about again…? She´d forgotten. Oh well. At least she still had a delicious meal to pass the time.

Later, Louise returned to her chambers, and was about ready to go to bed, when she realized three things. One, the stack of hay was still next to her bed. Two, Kamina wouldn´t be coming back anytime soon. And three, she was stuck with a snoring Derf for the night. Just how long had that sword been asleep for anyway?! Sighing, she sat on her bed, pondering how many pillows she should use to make any kind of sleep possible, before her eyes fell once more onto the stack of hay. She was curious how it felt like to sleep on. So the mage did the obvious thing, after making sure that Derf was indeed asleep and that the door was locked, and lied down on Kamina´s bed, as he´d done so very often.

`Uncomfortable´ would be putting it mildly. Even with her uniform, the hay stung her skin, and just lying in it for two seconds made her want to scratch herself all over to rid herself of these itches, and then proceed to take a five-hour bath, with multiple scrubbings every hour to rid herself of the stench. How could he bear to lie down on this for more than ten seconds, let alone an entire night! And yet, she´d never even considered how he was doing, sleeping on this torture of a bed. She began to feel guilt swelling up in her chest. That was cut short by someone trying to open the door, followed by knocking.

"Louise, open up. It´s me."

She shot up faster than a bullet as Kamina´s voice entered her ears, and the feeling that weighed her down changed from guilt to embarrassment. She couldn´t be seen like this, him least of all! Quickly, the mage ran over to the stand where she kept her comb, and began removing all the hay that had been caught in her long hair when she lied down. Of course, this did nothing against the strands that were stuck in her clothes, which she struggled to get out. Those struggles resulted in her accidentally knocking over a flask of makeup on her stand.

"Louise? What was that noise?" He sounded rather concerned, and Louise feared he might actually be stupid enough to break down the door in needless worrying. Well, it wouldn´t be exactly stupid, but…she just didn´t want him to enter.

"I-I am changing my night gown!" She yelled as the first excuse to pop into her head, and he seemed to be satisfied with her answer.

"´Kay. Take your time." His reply was followed by footsteps that distanced themselves from the door, and it finally calmed her down. She did as he said, and took her time as she actually did change into her gown, now that there was no pressure. After being completely confident that no trace of hay remained on her person, she unlocked the door, and let her partner enter. "Did you dye your hair, or why is there a single blond strand here?" Immediately, she was humiliated as he pulled a rather long piece of hay from her head. "Hold on, is this…?" He inevitably asked, and all she did was nod with a beet red face. "Hm. Whatever." She was incredibly grateful that the Founder had heard her prayers and simply ended this shameful show as quickly as humanly possible.

"W-well, why are you here? Your room is in the servant´s quarters now." She asked timidly to steer away from the subject of her literal bed hair, and thusly help her regain some dignity in this conversation.

"Yeah, about that. I dunno why, but I can´t sleep on the bed they gave me. At all. So I came to pick up my old bed." Kamina´s answer absolutely flabbergasted her. He couldn´t sleep on an actual bed? But he managed to on…on _that_? What in the Founder´s name was wrong with this man?!

"B-but how?! How can you prefer that pile of hay over an actual bed?! It´s so uncomfort –" She realized her slipup far too late. What was wrong with _her_ is what she should be asking herself. So many mishaps tonight, first with walking in on him, followed by those thoughts she really shouldn´t have about Kamina, then finally, the incident with the hay that led to this disgrace.

"Wait, you actually lied down in my bed? So that´s how the hay got in your hair, hm?" He muttered to himself as he walked over to his ´bed´ and kneeled down next to it. "So, I take it that you didn´t enjoy the experience?" The only response he got was incoherent stammering. "Well, it´s not for everyone I guess." He added whilst collecting his ´bed´. Once his arms were full with hay, he stood up. "Anyway, I´ll be off. See you tomorrow, Louise." Right as he was about to walk through the door, the mage was brought out of her embarrassment by a loud noise, something that set off alarms in both their heads, as this was an incredibly tough subject to tackle.

"Say, Kamina. Since you are that sword´s wielder, can I assume that you´ll keep it with you in your room?" She spoke, holding Derf up for her partner to take with him. He began sweating.

"No, I think he should stay with you. He told me that he enjoys his stay here."

"Only because you lived here with him. Now, don´t abandon your friend, Kamina."

"Oh, no. It´s all because of those pillows of yours. He says they are very comfortable."

"I have more than enough of them; I could part with half of those pillows if he truly likes them so much."

"Please, the mighty Kamina could never ask such a thing of a lady."

"The lady doesn´t mind. Take the sword."

"But the man minds. Keep Derf with you."

"Take it."

"Keep him."

Silence.

Then, war broke out between the two once more. Between the many traded blows and insults, Derf was being handed around like a hot potato; the second he so much as touched one of them, he was already being shoved back into the other´s arms. And all the while, he was snoring away like nothing was wrong. This spat was only resolved when a voice came from the door.

"Um, am I interrupting?"

"Yes!"  
"Yes!"

It was then that reality caught up with them, and they both froze as they saw who it was that had spoken up. The only thing that got Louise´s mind working again was the sound of Derf hitting the ground with a loud *clang*. It was then that the mage finally managed to choke out two words that were probably the last thing Kamina would´ve expected in his trip to pick up a stack of hay.

"Your Majesty?!"

 **Oho! How unexpected…not. Seriously though, the next chapter will follow the script of the show less. Expect that one in about two weeks. Cos I´m dragging my fat arse on a plane to have some unneeded vacation. Anyways, let´s see…jokes, jokes, what kinda jokes can I make…oh, yes. My social life. I do sincerely hope you enjoyed, and that you´ll tune in next time. Oh, and 9001/10. *clap* *clap* Bye!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Two weeks and a day. Dammit. Well, I was one day off, gonna go and commit Sudoku. Before I do that, though, here´s a chapter for you guys. With an extra dose of talking. Two. Three…okay, there´s a lot of talking. Sue me.**

 **Clockwork Unity: Had to google it and search for a few minutes before I got the joke myself. I haven´t had that good a laugh in days. So thanks for that, and hopefully the guys over at Nippon Ichi Studios get on that soon. Oh, and I do hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I did that joke.**

 **As do you, my other dear readers. Let´s go.**

Seeing the princess caused two thoughts to shoot through Kamina´s mind: one, Louise might explode (and probably blow him up too while she was at it) at being seen like this by someone of this standing; and two, how the hell did his face find itself slamming against the floor so quickly? Normally, he´d have connected the dots, but before he could, the pain registered, and he let out a loud cry. The cause of his pain was quickly identified when Louise began apologizing profusely to the uninvited guest about not showing the proper respect, blablabla. Ignoring that, Kamina pushed himself up, despite the best efforts of his partner to discreetly keep him down. He then went to address the elephant in the room (an expression he never really understood; after all, what on earth was an elephant? Some piece of furniture? He´s not seen one so far. Anyways, he was digressing.).

"So, why are you here, princess?"

"You…! You shall not address the princess with such disrespect, Kamina!"

"Oh yeah. Never did get her name, now did I? Alright then, what is your name?" He just nonchalantly acknowledged Louise´s interjection, and went straight back to his talk with royalty. His partner was seething, naturally, however, any further remarks were cut off by the purple-haired girl herself.

"My name is Henrietta de Tristain. May I have your name in return?" Was her response, which she gave with that same smile as in the parade, but unlike then, Louise saw a storm brewing. And it was very close. In fact, it had already put on its orange glasses and was about to start come crashing down on her, but just in the nick of time, her reflexes averted the crisis by means of smashing its face to the floor for the second time that evening. Good thing the hay was there, else Kamina might´ve gotten a concussion. Though that might be better than whatever was to follow.

"Um, Louise? What are you doing?"

The pink-haired girl turned around to face the other mage, and couldn´t bring out anything at first. She hadn´t even thought about any justification for her actions. She chastised herself before quickly fumbling out the best excuse she could think of as a familiar pain began forming in her skull.

"Y-you see, Your Majesty, this man has severe issues with respecting mages, as you saw when he stopped kneeling to you, so I –"

"Louise. You are holding him down with four pillows."

Indeed she was. Because as it turned out, when Kamina starts a speech, he´ll damn well finish it, even if he has to yell it into the floor. Her soft, thick pillows are remarkably good at absorbing sound, so that was the best choice to keep him quiet. Especially since they´ve been tested in the field with huge success, with the field being the very room she was sitting in, and the guinea pig being a talking piece of scrap. Unfortunately, the academics at the Royal Institute of Tristain probably wouldn´t be impressed at her amazing invention. Even if these pillows would better the morale and help against restlessness in the army, thus bettering their chances in war. However, when using this ingenious tool, it made you look like you were attempting to suffocate someone, which was a rather big drawback when using it in front of royalty.

"…yes, I am."

"Are you not going to let him introduce himself to me?"

"…of course I will, Your Majesty." Was her meek answer to the princess´ disapproving tone, and she took the pillows off of him. Immediately after she did, Kamina shot back up to his full height.

"And that´s me! The mighty Kamina!"

Thank Brimir for that timing. Louise let out a sigh of relief as he finished his speech, and with that, the crisis seemed to be averted, as was her oncoming migraine. However, she still had her eye on him, and pulled him back down to his knees after they had formally introduced themselves and the princess was focused on giggling at Kamina´s usual antics (thank the Founder she wasn´t offended by it (because Louise knew a person in this very room that was her spitting image that was fuming at it)).

" _Kneel, stupid! This is the princess!"_ She whispered in his ear once his head was back down on her level, but right then and there she saw the next major crisis of the night. He got back up, apparently unfazed by her words, or attempts to hold him down, as she was just carried up with him, and was now standing up as well with her hands on his shoulder, trying to hold him back.

"So, Henrietta, why are you here at this time of day?" Kamina asked, and his partner felt faint. He didn´t even address Her Majesty with her proper title! How could he even fathom it to be acceptable for him to call her by her name! Her firstname, no less! And she wouldn´t even get started on the casual way he was talking to her! Did he _want_ to have them both killed?! She instantly went to her knees for damage repair with the migraine back in full swing. Such joy.

"I apologize for his rudeness, Your Majesty! But he –"

"Oh Louise, how often must I tell you to stop calling me that?"

"But –"

"No buts, Louise. Right now, I´m not the princess, but your friend Henrietta. So please stop grovelling, and talk to me face to face."

Reluctantly, she stood up, and once she was at her full height, she felt two soft sensations on her chest, and two arms on her back.

"It´s nice to see you again after such a long time." The princess spoke as she gave her friend a heartfelt hug. Hesitantly, Louise raised her arms, but still wasn´t sure about this whole thing. What if someone saw them like this? Thankfully, there was someone in the room that gave no shits about social standing, and so Kamina grabbed her arms and put them on Henrietta´s back, where they honestly belonged in this situation. As she went to give him a glare at his unwanted meddling, he winked at her with his trademark grin, and mouthed his take on the matter to her.

" _I´ll make sure no one sees you."_

With that, he went to stand guard outside the door. Any anger she might have felt dissipated, and she loosened up considerably. Her friend appeared to notice this, as her hands began running up and down Louise´s back. They stayed that way for a while, the headache fading away together with any worries in the world they had. Eventually, the room´s owner offered Henrietta a seat on her bed, an offer that she took all too happily, and as she finally had a good old friend to vent all her frustrations to, she immediately began doing just that.

"I´ve had to stand ever since I got out of that carriage. It´s dreadful, I tell you. As if I need a tour of the whole Academy! In these stupid shoes, no less!" For further emphasis, Henrietta lifted her dress so Louise could see the torture that her shoes truly were. High heels that were high enough to lift the princess, who was actually just a few centimetres taller than her friend, near the height of Kamina, who easily towered over his partner.

"Well, Kamina _did_ always complain that the Academy is just a stupidly large maze."

"And he is right. Founder, and then there was the feast the faculty arranged!"

"What about it? The chef is rather talented from my experience."

"Oh no, the meal itself was exquisite, though strangely lacking in fruits…"

They heard a sneeze through the door.

"Bless you." Henrietta added in passing to the man behind the door, and upon hearing a faint _"Thanks."_ , she went on. "So as I said, the food was delicious, but the company was so stiff. The only thing they were willing to talk about was Fouquet."

"You mean the thief that´s going around robbing mages?"

"Precisely. And sure, I see how they can get worried about such a criminal, but could someone please consider that I hear this news day-in and day-out? Fouquet´s been the only issue that has been brought to my attention by the advisors at court over the last few weeks, so the only reprieve I get is through our letters and when I´m alone with Agnès."

"Agnès?"

"Oh, right, you two haven´t met. She´s the head of my private guard, and was present at the parade. She was the one with the short blonde hair."

"The grumpy looking woman?"

A giggle.

"Yes, I guess that´s one way to put it. She is always so concerned for my safety. Honestly, right now, she´s probably looking for me."

A gasp.

"You mean you didn´t inform anyone of this visit?!"

"No, this was meant to be private after all."

"Y-your Majesty…"

"Louise." The tone said it all, and Louise flinched at it briefly.

"S-sorry. H-h-henrietta…you may have made a huge mistake."

"How so?"

"You see, K-kamina, he is…"

To her horror, she heard voices through the door.

" _You. Did you see the princess?"_

" _Sure. Right behind this door. Can´t let you through though, she wants some privacy."_

A sword was apparently unsheathed.

" _What the hell!? Why are you pointing that at me?!"_

" _You mean to tell me that the princess, who suddenly went missing, wants some ´privacy´? Don´t give me that crap! You might be a kidnapper!"_

" _Just who the hell do you think I am?! I´m not some sort of asshole that does that kind of stuff!"_

" _And I am not some sort of idiot that falls for that kind of lie! Now get out of my way!"_

" _No can do! I told you, she wants some privacy!"_

" _You damn…!"_

After a few seconds during which the sound of fighting was audible through the door, Henrietta opened it, only to see a rather silly scene. Her most trusted guard had tried to skewer Louise´s partner, who had in turn jumped up to avoid it, and clamped his legs shut around the weapon to prevent his foe from going for another stab. After his weight caused the sword to drop with him, he was in a precarious situation. Agnès was trying to pull up the sword, whilst he did all he could to keep it away from his groin. Once royalty spoke up, the scene froze, and after a short pause, the blonde rushed over to her without letting go of her sword, thusly dragging the man a small distance along with her. Henrietta had to say, his legs had to be seriously toned to keep that iron grip on it.

"Your Majesty! Are you alright?"

"Yes, Agnès. I am fine. Now, as this man said, I wish for some privacy at the moment. So if you could please cease fighting, I would be most grateful."

"Your wish is my command." Agnès said as she pulled her blade from between Kamina´s legs, who was now checking his pants to see if they were torn in any way. Thankfully, they weren´t, and the Babymaker 9000 was completely intact. He sighed in relief once that became clear to him, and he went back to the opposite wall, where he would stand guard once more. "I shall remain close by. Take your time, Your Majesty."

"I will. Thank you, Agnès. Your concern is unwarranted, but appreciated." She turned to Kamina. "Oh, and Sir Kamina, would you please come back in? I have something I wish to ask you and Louise." As he finished yawning, he nodded to confirm.

"Sure. By the way, just how do you know Louise?"

"Oh, we used to be playmates back when we were young."

"…I´ll be completely honest, you don´t look even close to an old fart to me."

After giggling, the princess specified; with ´young´, she meant ´children´.

"Makes sense. Though unlike you, I´m not sure if Louise has matured past that age yet –"

Walking through the door, only instincts saved him as leather just barely shaved off the skin at the tip of his nose. He turned to find a very angry Louise holding a very thick and very scary whip. Well, shit.

"You…you…"

"Louise, remember what we agreed to –"

"You stupid, perverted…!"

Cutting out all the numerous adjectives she added on to that, each of which were accompanied with a crack of the whip which our hero had to dodge in the incredibly limited space that the doorframe provided, this lasted about a minute before both of them were at the end of their limits, tuckered out from their earlier squabble. They both fell to their knees after that, and once they were done, the princess poked out her head from behind the wall of the hallway, and, shaken from what had just happened, spoke up.

"Um, a-are you two done?"

"…yes…"  
"…yes…"

"Does this…happen often?"

"…yes…"  
"…yes…"

"C-could we get back to our conversation in that case?"

"…yes…"  
"…yes…"

With that, Louise and Henrietta went back onto the bed, and Kamina took a seat on the stack of hay that was still lying on the floor, wondering for a second why no one was complaining about the noise, but his musings were quickly interrupted when he was asked to join them on the bed. The two partners quickly explained to the guest that he preferred hay over a mattress. After seeing her baffled expression, the man finally asked her why he was told to come back in.

"Well, Sir Kamin-"

"No need for titles. I´m no noble after all."

"Very well then, Kamina, I just wanted to return the favour."

"Favour? What favour?"

"What´s your relationship with Louise? You seem very, _very_ close…"

Two voices with distinctly different tones answered that question in very different manners, and very different expressions.

"Eh, we´re not like that."

One was rather dismissive of the notion.

"A-as if I´d ever want to b-be like that with this f-fool of a man!"

The other acted in a fashion that would make her friend even more suspicious. And what do you know, Henrietta did in fact become more convinced of the false notion that the two of them had that kind of relationship.

"Louise, your blushing is a dead giveaway."

"W-w-what do you m-mean?"

"Huh. Never knew you looked at me in that way." The man added, putting on a thoughtful expression to play along with the guest.

"I-I d-d-d-don´t…"

"You should be more honest with your feelings, Louise."

"Yeah, be more open with me, Louise."

"Love is a wonderful thing, so don´t bottle it up."

It was at this point that the mage´s face had gone from red (which had only happened because the princess had reminded her of those unnecessary thoughts she´d had earlier) to white. This, however, was due to the fact that her skin had, in fact, reached levels of red that were invisible to the human eye. She had gone peak blush. Oh, and her migraine had made a comeback for round 2. Such wonderful joy, the feeling was indescribable. Unless you used the word ´painful´. Pausing to see if she reacted, the other two then let up on the act, and had a good laugh, realizing that they´d completely fried her brain. Eventually, settling down, Kamina did properly explain their relationship to Henrietta; since this was Louise´s childhood friend, he told her that they were partners, though he did also add that it was due to him refusing to get marked as a slave.

"I see. So you are the one that Louise summoned…"

"Bingo. Though some assembly was required." He motioned at the scar on his belly, and quickly stopped any questions with a "But that´s a story for another day.", adding the princess onto the list of people that he had promised a story to.

"I can assume that you´ll be performing tomorrow, then?" Now that was something he could answer.

"Of course! And it´ll be the best show you´ve ever seen in your whole life!" This caused the (conscious) mage to giggle.

"I´ll keep my expectations high, in that case."

"Heh. No matter how high they might be, the mighty Kamina will shatter all expectations on his way past them, toward the heavens!" Her giggles got a bit louder as the boisterous attitude he was showing here was much more honest than the slimy bragging of the nobles at court. It brought her joy to see something like this for a change.

"Louise should take a few notes from you. Talking to me as if we were equal, even though our standing is leagues apart…that´s what friends should be like in private." The man nodded in silent agreement. That, too, would be something he´d teach Louise over time. But first, she´d have to learn to believe in him, like he believes in her.

"By the way, tell Louise when she recovers to stop worrying about tomorrow. She wasn´t involved in the preparations, so she´s been constantly asking me about my progress. It´s really annoying that she doesn´t trust me enough to put together a simple act." Henrietta seemed shocked.

"T-that´s unexpected. Usually, the master and familiar are supposed to display their bond on that stage with their act." In response, Kamina waggled a finger.

"We´re not exactly master and familiar though, now are we? We are partners. Our trust must go deeper than the artificial bond forced by magic. And I will prove to her tomorrow that she can put that kind of trust in me." After his comments, the shock was gone from the girl´s face, replaced by a smile, but not the one from the parade. This one was more akin to the one she had when her friend loosened up in their hug.

"Very well said. I´ll see to it that your message is delivered."

"Thanks. Anyways, guess I´ll leave you two to it. I have a big show tomorrow, can´t afford to be tired for it. Good night." He left after the noble reciprocated the gesture, and with a yawn, walked past the blonde that was still standing guard. "Good night." He told her, and she returned the same words, though she didn´t even turn to look at him. He finally had time, so he took in her appearance. She wore a long white cape bearing a few depictions of two opposite crowns along with her green coat, which he guessed was made of leather and reached all the way to her ankles together with the cape.

Her legs were covered by brown stockings, probably made of leather as well as her shoes, of which he couldn´t make out the full shape due to the metal armour covering the area between her shins and feet. Pants-wise, the only clothing he could spot was a very short, black piece of cloth that barely went past her buttocks, baring the skin of her upper thighs. Not that he would ever complain about that. As for gloves, it was as basic as you could get for a soldier: leather that covered her hands, but not her fingers, a metal plate taking over the job of protecting her lower arm. Noting the familiar black cloth above said metal, Kamina took a guess that beneath the green coat, there was a black bodysuit.

He quickly caught her glare once he´d given her a look-over, and turned away. No use in risking the Babymaker 9000 getting injured again. A voice stopped him right as he reached the next door.

"Don´t expect me to apologize."

"I´m not. You just did what you thought was right."

"Damn straight."

He then went to walk down the hallway again, however, he heard a grating noise coming through Louise´s door, and that made him speed up to a sprint. Unfortunately, it wasn´t enough as the sound of the door slamming open and something sailing through the air reached his ears, followed by that very something hitting his legs, causing him to fall flat on his face for the third time that night, right at the corner. Soon after, four soft, familiar objects landed right on top of him to seal the deal.

"Good night, Kamina." He could hear the smirk on her face.

"Good night, Louise." Was his muttered, defeated answer as the door shut and he stood up, taking the snoring Derf as well as the pillows along with him, ignoring the quiet mirth of the guard at his misfortune. Though the only thing in this situation that amused Agnès was the fact that the two partners were definitely on a level playing field; none of them were superior in their relationship, it was more than obvious from the way they spoke and treated each other. If it were not so, then she´d be rather pissed about it.

She hated abuse from the aristocracy as much as any other commoner, especially when they acted all high and mighty about it. But in this case, she´d let it slide, because this violence probably went both ways. Also, seeing the guy who just blatantly checked her out a minute ago get his just desserts so quickly was simply delicious.

Meanwhile, behind the door, Louise had to fend off another short tease from the princess, before, after she asked her to stop, Henrietta changed her tone, but remained on the topic for just a little longer.

"But Louise, I´ll be completely honest. I think you´re lucky to have met a man like Kamina."

"I-I asked you to stop. Please."

"I said I´m being honest. Louise, just from the way he talks to you, I can tell he cares about you."

"Of course he does, he´s my fam –"

"He told me that you two were partners."

"H-he did…?"

"Yes. On top of that, he asked me out of the blue to tell you to stop worrying about the show."

"…"

"A thought which I will second. Louise, have faith in him. He wants you to trust him. The bond he wants to share with you is special, truly special."

"I..."

"If you can´t do it for him or yourself, then do it for me. Give him a chance."

"I-I will, Your Majesty."

"While you´re at it, could you also learn from Kamina how to address me in private?"

"Okay, H-henrietta."

"Well, I think I shall retire to my quarters now. Good night, Louise."

"Good night."

She then left the room, and upon being asked by Agnès whether she was done, nodded. They made their way back to her own room, whilst trying to remain undetected, which wasn´t all that difficult. Most students were in their rooms, trying to get some shuteye for the grand exhibition tomorrow, so no one was in the hallways to see the two of them. That also answered the question as to why no one complained about the ruckus. Most mages used spells to control when and how long they slept; the only one who didn´t was Louise, for obvious reasons. Trying it would make her dreams of dreaming blow up in a ball of smoke. That very fact made Henrietta even happier that it was Kamina who had been summoned to her friend´s side. For he looked past her failures, the whipping and the prideful façade to see the truly vulnerable girl she was. And even then, he didn´t turn away, but instead wanted to tackle that problem head on.

"An écu for your thoughts?" A surprised yelp later, Agnès apologized for scaring her lady out of her thoughts.

"It´s alright. I was just thinking about how lucky Louise is for having found such a good friend."

"Oh, so Pinky´s the kid you keep talking about?" In that moment, the blonde swore to have felt immense rage from the way they came, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Well, she is as old as me, you know." The princess´ comment made her forget about that odd feeling through its utter absurdity.

"Of course, and Brimir was an alcoholic wolf." Was the guard´s sarcastic response, which made Henrietta have a good laugh.

"I´m being honest, Agnès. On both fronts."

"So what´s going to perform for her tomorrow?"

"Kamina. The man you almost castrated."

"Him?!"

"Yes, him."

"Huh. Wonder what kind of show he´ll put on tomorrow."

"Well, he said it´d be the greatest one we´ve ever seen."

"Five écus say that´ll end in disappointment."

"Deal."

"By the way, Your Majesty, is Pinky also the one you want to send to…?"

"There are better times to address that matter. Besides…"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I know." The reply was followed by a small coin being flipped into Henrietta´s open hand. With that, their conversation was over, until the princess got back to her room, and wished Agnès a good night. Once that was done, the guard headed to bed herself, and wondered just what that man would do the following day. Smirking, she prayed to the Founder that his plans would be ruined somehow. She wanted her money back. After all, it came straight from her beer fund.

The exhibition ran along smoothly the next day. It was close to being over when it was finally Louise´s turn, which did nothing to ease her nerves. Her competitors had all the time to show off, and whilst some were amazing, like Tabitha creating rings of water in the air for her dragon to fly through as she sat on it and seemingly let it do whichever crazy stunts it so pleased to do with her completely neutral face stuck inside a book. Or Kirche´s amazing display of tennis; of course, there was a gimmick in the form of her lizard only using his tail to bat back the giant ball of fire she was all but hammering at him in the most literal sense of the word. Seriously, who knew that you could turn your wand into a fiery hammer of death?

Then again, there were far sillier performances. For instance, Guiche just lovingly cuddled his fat mole whilst some of his friends tossed roses at him from the audience. Somehow, that did not seem very thought through, but the emotions it got from Montmorency made it absolutely worth watching. It appeared that Louise was right when she said that he loved that mole more than any girl at the Academy, which said something for the most enthusiastic skirt chaser in the area. However, there was a glaring issue at hand that caused the biggest migraine she´s had for years. All because a certain stupid dog was currently nowhere to be found, at this most important of times. She´d gone into his room; nope, no one there. To the dining hall; nope, empty. Right in front of her? Why yes, there he was, with her, backstage.

"J-just where the –"

" _Shh. You´re being too loud_." He quietly told her, clamping a hand over her mouth, which she internally thanked him for. Her yelling might be misconstrued as sabotage of another´s show, and, well, **Rule of Steel** says it all. Regardless, she slapped his hand off her face and continued in whisper.

" _Why are you so late?!"_

" _Had some stuff to prepare. Sorry it took so long, but the others needed to get ready."_

" _What others?!"_

" _You´ll see. Most important thing is that I´m here now. So don´t worry, I´ll win this thing and then we can have a nice lunch to celebrate."_

Right as she wanted to retort, a voice called out her name from behind the curtain. She hoped to have misheard, but Kamina had turned her around and given her a small shove to egg her on. Gulping, she went on stage. All eyes were on her. All those cold, judging eyes. It felt incredibly humbling to stand in front of this crowd like this, in the centre of attention. So humbling, in fact, that her throat went drier than the desert. Weird. Just before, she could have talked (yelled) to Kamina for hours, but all of a sudden, her lips refused to budge. She just awkwardly stood there, until she saw the princess out of the corner of her eye, watching her with a smile. And that warmth thawed her up enough to speak.

"My name is Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Vallière. And my familiar he is…a human." Complete silence. Everyone already knew this, besides a few murmurs on the edge of the crowd, probably the private guard of the princess. "His name is Kamina. Enjoy his performance." She stepped aside, but before she could get to the backstage, she was being pushed onto a chair that Kamina had brought onstage with him. He wanted her to watch, that much was obvious from his look he gave her together with Derf.

"Good day, ladies and gentlemen! Before I do anything, could my fellow performers please –" He stopped, then coughed to cover up his slip-up. "Could my fellow –" Something seemed to catch his attention, though only he seemed to know what it was. There were whispers as he lied down and put an ear on the ground. After a brief pause, his eyes went wide, and he jumped back toward Louise, grabbed Derf, and ran off in the direction of the neighbouring court. The crowd had abandoned staying quiet and was rather concerned as to what was happening, when his voice was heard again, as loud as ever.

"Hey! Heyheyheyheyheyheyheyhey! You! Yes, I´m talking to you, asshole! What do you think you´re doing, ruining my show like this! Do you even know who the hell I am?! Well, listen closely!" Louise had begun the chase after the fifth ´Hey´ and saw him, and he was looking at a high angle. It had to be on the other side of the building, whatever it was. She barely listened to his speech on her way, but he was obviously done with it as he unsheated Derf and pointed him at the same angle. "And that´s me! The tenacious and powerful leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade! Kamina!"

"Kamina! What in the Founder´s name are you –" She saw it. The giant, made of rock, dust, trees, and many other things, which was staring down at them, with a hooded figure on top. Louise felt faint as Kamina whipped out his glasses and put them on, challenging the figure with his trademark grin.

"And I will cut your Ganmen to shreds!"

 **It appears our hero´s performance has been postponed. Good thing, too. Means he´ll try even harder to rip that ´unknown person´ another butthole. Which he will. Probably. You know the drill, leave a review if you want to tell me anything, and if you don´t, why the fuck not? Leave one anyway. I hope you enjoyed, and I´ll be seeing you next time. In a week. Definitely. Probably. Maybe. A definite maybe. Bye!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Welcome, one and all! Broke the fucking record. Get on my level. But three days for a chapter, that is a new high for this story. So obviously, let´s follow it up with incredible review answering!**

 **Sonicdude8: I did say it was only postponed, didn´t I? He´ll definitely perform. Unless he kicks the bucket. Which is a major focus of this chapter. I´ll just leave it at that. Heheheh. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I love toying with the emotions of the people of the future when I´m in the present. It´s so gratifying. Now say the second-to-last sentence three times fast.**

 **Lone Commentor: Not so lonely anymore, eh? Sonicdude8 will keep you company in this section for now/forevermore. Anyways, just who the hell do you think I am?! Of course I´ll keep up the good work, how else can I fuel my addiction for reviews? Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much, so I won´t keep you any longer.**

 **Without any further ado, let´s go to bed.**

 **With a good book. Like 1984, or Moby Dick (which is what I call my pet whale (aka my dad(we´re both fat fucks, so this joke works(I think)))),**

 **Okay, fine. Here´s some of my shitty writing since you want it that badly.**

Louise awoke to the sight of the apocalypse. There were clouds of smoke and dust everywhere. Panicked yells were followed by barked orders. It was utter chaos, and the only thing she could single out in her distorted vision was Henrietta´s face. It was twisted in a worried way, she was obviously concerned. She lifted a hand that the princess grabbed immediately. Seeing her move made her friend let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank goodness. I thought you were…" Henrietta trailed off. At least the two of them were alright. That took a huge burden off of Louise´s heart, but somehow, there was an even heavier thing weighing her down. She wondered what it was, when she noticed her own hand´s colour. It was distinctly red. How odd. She didn´t feel any pain, so why would she be bleeding? Was this the afterlife? It sure didn´t seem like it, it was far too chaotic to be the Founder´s Haven. This blood…was it even hers?

"Oh Founder, Louise! What is this blood?!" Henrietta seemed to have seen it too, and checked her for wounds. Oh yeah, the princess was a water mage and could heal her. Though she apparently found nothing, as she stopped looking for injuries shortly after starting. Or Louise´s perception of time was horrible. Would explain why the smoke always had the same blurry shape. Wait, everything appeared as that blurry shape right now. Nevermind.

"So this is Kamina´s blood…" Something seemed to click in her mind as the events from earlier came flooding back into her head. There was a giant golem attacking the Main Tower, and Kamina challenged the literally towering opponent with his sword that was barely longer than a branch. It was an absurd image, but because it involved Kamina, that meant it was obviously what had transpired. The fight went well for a few moments, as the giant ignored him at first and continued attacking the school building, but since his weapon is a magic-absorbing, talking piece of scrap, the first cut nearly severed its foot off of its leg. Which meant that its next move was to try and kick him away, but since he managed to dodge in time, it only hit the earth. The cloud of dust that caused hit Louise, and she could still feel her throat being parched because of it.

During this small storm, she could barely make out what happened, all she knew was the fact that once the dust settled, the golem had gotten his hand on Kamina. Quite literally, in fact, as it then scraped him off the ground with its right hand after that flattening experience and held him up to its "head" in the form of a hooded person. They seemed to taunt him before squeezing him to the point where she swore to have heard something crack. In a panicked state, she lifted her wand, and tried to cast a fireball at them. With the expected, yet disappointing result of an explosion on its right shoulder. It then lost all tension in its arm as the hooded figure leapt over to the giant hole in the tower, all thanks to her failure to cast a single fireball.

She fell to her knees as it had sunk in just who this person was; the thief Fouquet, the very same the princess had complained to her about the evening before. And she had gone and helped the thief with their heist due to her incompetence. The shame she felt as the figure jumped back to her earthen puppet from the Academy´s safe and commanded it to reach in with its functioning arm was unbearable. However, there seemed to be hope as the teachers finally arrived and began pelting it with spells, blocking passage through the hole in the security. That was short lived as the thief used a levitation spell to break off the useless arm and toss it at the unwelcome intervention. They instantly let up on the attack, as they had to form some barriers, and fast; although their efforts wouldn´t help with her situation, as the arm broke apart in mid-air, and one particularly large boulder was headed her way.

It was all she could do to stop it, she told herself, but in the end, what happened next made her want to die as she realized just why this blood was on her hand. She had desperately raised her wand to try and conjure a barrier in time to save herself, when a silhouette appeared before her and sliced through the rock. Before her spell went wrong as usual, and blew up the exact spot he´d stepped on. All she heard was a painful yell, and as she fell over from the proximity from the blast, her eyes caught another piece of rubble headed right for her, and lost consciousness. Turning her head a bit, she connected the dots. The two equally-sized piles of dirt on either of her sides told her everything about the events after she fainted, excluding the answer to one single question.

" _Where is Kamina?"_

"He…he ran off after Fouquet." Apparently, she had accidentally spoken her thoughts out loud. The answer did nothing to quell that inner turmoil. Her vision was starting to clear up. How odd. It became easier to distinguish between various figures, but at the same time, those figures were incredibly hard to identify. She rubbed her eyes, which fixed her sight temporarily, before the cause became apparent. There were droplets running down her face, taking the dust in her eyes with them. The pool of blood she´d lifted her hand out of told it all. Kamina was badly hurt, and it was all her fault, yet he still went after the chase with reckless abandon. As she slowly pushed herself up, a single thought shot through her head, before the regret made her desperately jump into Henrietta´s arms.

" _You truly are…a stupid dog."_

"Your Majesty."

Agnès felt horrible for disturbing this scene, as her lady shot her a glare, but she needed to give a report on the current situation. Thankfully, the noble understood, and softened her expression, beckoning her guard over to her ear.

" _There is major damage to the Main Tower, completely unsafe to enter. Earth mages are working to repair it, air mages are lifting the rubble to search for any victims, water mages are treating the injured. Thankfully, we haven´t confirmed any casualties so far. I´ll be heading this operation, so feel free to comfort Pinky here."_ The report was quickly delivered, though there was this odd pain that came from her shin at the end of it. When she looked, she didn´t see what caused it, only a tiny movement on the princess´ back.

" _Agnès, could you do me a favour and send a search party for Sir Kamina? He´s gone after the thief."_ Her lady asked, and whilst she didn´t like it either, she only had one answer to give her with the craziness on all sides.

" _Unlikely to happen. The soldiers are all tied up with calming down the students and servants as well as extracting those stuck inside the Main Tower. If anyone leaves, they might cause an unnecessary panic when we check for those that are still missing later."_ This was unfortunately the harsh reality. She couldn´t divert any manpower to search for an individual right now; it was imperative to help the masses and bring some order back into this place.

" _Are you sure that you can´t? You can just exclude them when you check."_ A good idea in theory, but Agnès knew what the consequences would be if they followed through with it, and so did Henrietta, as her fallen expression clearly showed.

" _You mean to tell me that their friends won´t go nuts when they hear that they´ve gone after the person that caused_ this _?"_ The princess´ expression fell further, and the guard clenched her fist at seeing her liege and friend in this state.

" _Point taken."_ They both felt nothing but contempt at their own powerlessness, which was only magnified by the fact that Louise was a trusted friend to Henrietta. Neither of them could help the crying girl, which, if the stories of the kings of yore are to be believed, is what every leader should be able to do easily. It seems as if they were just that, though; stories. Reality was not as kind.

" _I´ll go."_ Meaning that the crying girl will take it upon herself to fix her mistake. For a minute, the two thought to have misheard.

"Louise? Did you say –" To Henrietta´s horror, Louise didn´t just shake her head and sink further into her embrace, but instead pulled away her still teary face. However, it now bore a determined expression.

"I said I´ll go." She repeated, without really knowing why. It´s as if another person was controlling her, using her lips to convey their will. All she knew was that she had to right her wrongs at any cost, and help Kamina.

"B-but Louise! You can´t!" Henrietta was desperate – she´d do anything to stop her friend from putting herself in any more danger. Louise just put on a tiny smile.

"I´ll be fine. After I find him, I will return right away, Your Majesty." Her attempts to calm the princess fell on deaf ears.

"That´s not the point!" Thankfully, someone else had cleaned theirs this morning.

"I can buy you half an hour. Be back by then."

"Agnès!" Henrietta was getting more and more desperate as her trusted guard betrayed her by supporting her friend´s insanity. There was a small giggle that made her turn back to Louise.

"That won´t be necessary. They all bully me anyways." Was the depressing, yet very true reply she mustered up with the tiniest amount of mirth. She looked back up at the two others. "They wouldn´t care if I died."

"Louise…you never told me…" This was horrible news. And the fact that it was news was even more horrible. She should´ve heard about this ages ago! The only thing she ever heard was that Louise was being mostly ignored by others because of her explosive tendencies, but bullying? Never would she have imagined that her friend would be treated that badly.

"I´ll be on my way." Louise had stood up, albeit wobbly, and had walked over to the jacket that lay in the pool of blood. It was Kamina´s after all, and he was probably missing it at the moment. At least, that´s what she told herself to push out the other possibility of him lying in a ditch reddened by his blood, not moving…she shivered.

"Louise!" That shook her out of her thoughts, and she turned to tell her friend that she wouldn´t stay even if she asked, but that was unnecessary. "Please be careful. I don´t want to lose another person I care about…" Remembering that the king had died a while ago, the pink-haired mage nodded, and then turned again, heading for the stables as quickly as her weak knees could handle. Henrietta watched as she slowly faded from her vision, before standing up. It would be best to keep herself occupied for the time being.

"Agnès, allow me to assist in any way I can."

"Of course, Your Majesty! I think it would be best for you to…"

The small girl had barely gotten into what felt like should be earshot before putting two fingers to her lips and whistling. Turns out she guessed right as the door flew open and out galloped her majestic steed!...with hooves covered in dung. But she did not care as Charlie came to a standstill next to her and she hopped on immediately. The horse then began trotting toward the Main Gate, and she did her best to avoid any people on the way. Louise didn´t want anything to prevent her from getting on with the search as quickly as possible. Which of course meant that Zerbst was blocking the Main Gate.

"Just where do you think you´re going, Zero?" Was the germanian´s question, which she coldly refused to answer.

"I don´t have the time to deal with you, Zerbst. Move." It seemed as if her nemesis was unperturbed though, as she casually strode up to Charlie and gave him a pat on the neck.

"Why are you riding this fella, Zero?"

"Are you deaf, Zerbst? I told you to move." The venom in that voice was strong enough to kill an elephant. A simile the man she was after wouldn´t comprehend, though safe to say, it was strong enough to make even Zerbst do a double take and look at the ground as she pressed further.

"It´s Kamina, isn´t it?" Now it was Louise´s turn to flinch. And here she thought that this germanian was just fat filled with s-sex drive. Turns out, there was a brain in there too. About as big as Kamina´s belly button, but still, there was a brain. Why did she make that comparison? Great, now the image of half-naked Kamina was in her head again.

"Congratulations, Zerbst. You possess the brain power necessary to see his jacket and draw that conclusion. What next? Will you make fun of me? Huh? Will you?!" Zerbst levelled her gaze at her, and surprised her once more.

"No, I want to help." Though Louise didn´t buy it. She´d already wasted 65 écus this week, and right now, her time was much more valuable. And that would be the price for entertaining any more of this nonsense.

"Hmph. Sure."

"Tabitha will help too." Now that got her attention. Because Zerbst herself was close to useless in a search, but combined with the singular student whose familiar allowed travel through the sky? It made a huge difference. Besides, Tabitha was a capable healer, she´d proven that much at Mott´s manor. Knowing Kamina, he´d bled a few buckets on his chase, meaning quick first aid would be vital in keeping him alive.

"Fine. You take over the skies, I´ll handle the search on the ground." With that, she gave Charlie a good kick, and he galloped out the gate as Zerbst stood aside. Honestly, the germanian herself didn´t believe at first that Kamina´d do something so insane, but when she found her friend sitting at the Main Gate scanning the area and asked her what she was doing, well, the answer was simply "Stupid´s gone.". Recalling her insult at the manor, she quickly put the pieces together, but the thing that convinced her that Tabitha wasn´t overestimating the guy´s insanity was Louise holding that jacket.

" _I said that you should go and fight. You accomplish nothing by just sitting around. That´s what he would say."_ Well, seems like that maid had told the truth after all. Heh. What a man. Kirche wondered how that translated into bed…before she was picked up by her cape and heaved onto the dragon´s back, where Tabitha was sat, and took off right after. The tanned girl sighed as she got the message. _Focus._

Once they´d entered the forest, Charlie slowed down so Louise could scan every last shrubbery in her sight, with little to no success, leaning more toward the ´no´ end of the spectrum. She´d hoped to find some kind of trail (preferably not blood) to clue her in to his whereabouts, but there was no such luck. She felt her hope slipping by the second as they began going off the beaten path and still, the lead was eluding her. Her grip on the reigns tightened, her nails dug into her palm, and the sun began losing its lustre the longer she looked. She couldn´t give up, but…could she not even find her partner when he was so close to death? Perhaps she really was…a Zero.

"Hey, Vallière!"

Her eyes shot up to meet the other members of the search party. They looked rather worried.

"Did you find a trail?" She asked, and though she tried to hide it, the fact that this was her last hope was all too evident in her tone.

"Well, yes and no." That made no sense. Louise´s tone reflexively shifted toward a more aggressive and frustrated manner in response.

"Enlighten me, Zerbst, what you mean by that."

"Well, it´s not really a trail, it´s more along the lines of a ´Giant golem was here´ sign."

"Excuse me?"

"It´s best for you to check yourself. Just head that way, you literally can´t miss it, even if you´re blind." Honestly, Louise had no clue what this meant, but since she had no other option, she did indeed head the way the germanian proposed. About half a minute later, she figured out why no one could miss it. Because the entire forest had been unearthed as the golem came through the area, and the earth itself had been pushed aside, essentially creating two small mounds of dirt on either side of the new road. She had no time to admire it, as she quickly made Charlie hop into the newly dubbed Golem Trail, and they charged through it at blinding speed. Soon, she saw something that both caused her relief and panic: blood.

And the owner wasn´t too far away, either; just a few seconds after she passed the first drop, she heard his sword crying for help. By the time it had gone from simple drops of blood to a small river, Kamina came into view, leaning against a tree with a bloodied apron wrapped around his torso. The very instant Louise had stopped Charlie, she was already out the saddle and at his side, looking for the wound.

"Oh, hey, Louise. Was wondering when you´d show up." The way he had to force himself to bring out those words didn´t match his casual tone whatsoever and she made sure to let him know after she´d pressed his jacket on his injured back.

"Idiot! Of course I´d be worried! You went after a square-class criminal all on your own, after you…after I…" She couldn´t say it. Try as she might, the fact that she was responsible for the pitiful state he was in was something she could not say out loud. Which made it even more surprising when he draped an arm around her and pulled her closer.

"Louise, that wasn´t your fault. Me blowing up…that was because I couldn´t show you that you can trust me. That´s why you tried to cast that spell instead of knowing that I would protect you. I am the one to blame. So keep your head…held high." She couldn´t believe it. What was he saying!? Of course she was the one at fault! The one who carried the wand and spoke the incantation was her! How could he be the one at fault!?

"K-Kamina! Why –" Her retort was cut off by the man himself.

"I don´t care who…this guy is. All I need…to know is that he ruined…our big day. I…cannot abide by that." He was seemingly losing consciousness as his words began to trail off more and more, and the mage began to panic upon seeing this and slapped his cheek to keep him awake. If he fell asleep, he might never wake up!

"Kamina! Stay with me! I…I don´t want you to die!" There was a tear forming in her eye, and he apparently saw it in his half-lucid state, and lifted a thumb with a smile as he asked his favourite question.

"Heh…just who…the hell do…you think I am…?" He closed his eyes as his finger touched her tear, taking it with it as the strength keeping it up faded. Louise didn´t want to believe what she was seeing. She touched his face, checking whether he was just kidding around. No, he was definitely gone.

"…no…" She collapsed, and began sobbing. She couldn´t even save him when he was right there. Trying to cast a healing spell didn´t even occur to her. Just what kind of horrible partner was she? How could he have so much faith in her? Just…why? Why did he have to die?

"Erm, Pinky…" She didn´t even respond to her ´beloved´ nickname the sword called her with. She couldn´t hear it in the first place. "Pinky?" On the other hand, from deep within her sorrow, she began to feel this urge to blow something up take over. "Oi, Pinky!" It almost did, but thankfully for Derf, he was saved by the bell – or in this case, Tabitha and Kirche landing.

"Looks like we made it just in time. Tabitha, do your thing."

"…what? He´s dead! How could you –"

"What are you talking about? Tabitha just put him to sleep so we could treat him easier and won´t have to deal with a huge fuss once we head back."

"…and when exactly did you plan on telling me this?" In response to the slowly heating kettle that was Louise, Zerbst checked her wrist, to check the time on a fake watch.

"Right about now." The Vallière was fuming, and the urge to cause explosions grew ever stronger. She needed something to take her frustration and embarrassment out on.

"Now, to be fair…" Ah, excellent. A volunteer. "I was trying –" Derf was cut off by Louise picking him up and smashing him against any intact trees in the area. "Well, someone´s got anger issues." He added with a voice that sounded like he was about to vomit after the first tree fell. He got no answer besides a funeral inside the convenient pile of dirt to shut him up. _"At least now I won´t barf all over the place."_ With mild success.

"You´re a piece of scrap. You can´t vomit." This time, it was Derf´s turn to get angry at his partner´s partner.

" _I´ll have you know that I am made with the finest craftsmanship mankind has to offer! I am no simple ´piece of scrap´! I am the mighty Derflinger! Spells break on my body! My memories are unadulterated history! And –"_

"You still can´t vomit." Louise smirked, knowing she´d won this one when she heard the grumble from inside the earth.

" _Touché."_

It appeared as if Tabitha had also finished healing up Kamina, who was now wearing his jacket properly and took light breaths in his sleep. His partner(s) sighed in relief as the all-clear came from the blue-haired mage, and after a short rest, they went to pack the man onto Charlie, who was rather helpful, bowing down to get him up easier. It seemed as if his rivalry had also made the horse develop a great bit of respect for Kamina. Now then, all that was left was to have Louise get on and ride off. Which was exactly when a huge red ball hit the tree next to her.

She watched in horror as it began falling over, right on top of her and Charlie. The mage turned, wanting to give the horse a clap on its behind to get it to run off, but she had no such luck as her hand found nothing but thin air. This caused her to lose her balance and fall over. She then found the bark of the tree looming over her, and instincts took over, her eyes immediately closing shut. Weirdly enough, there was no crash, no pain, nothing. Tentatively, she carefully opened one eyelid a tiny bit, then both of them shot wide open at the scene which only she could see, as there was still dust everywhere from that blast.

Charlie was standing right above to her in all his glory, shaking under the immense weight of the tree. And on him, apparently awake from the explosion, Kamina was holding up said tree with both his arms, which both were getting cut from the bark, and had a strained expression from the effort. However, with a single kick, he communicated with his racing rival what they´d do next, and Charlie replied with a snort to confirm. With a cry and neigh respectively, they both heaved the tree up, until it was almost back at a ninety degree angle, then finally, one last push made it topple over. Hopping off, Kamina checked Louise for injuries, before telling her to get into the saddle.

Unfortunately, the dust settled, and the two quickly realized they wouldn´t get very far if they ran. There were three golems that had them completely surrounded, and on the top of the largest stood a familiar hooded figure. They were currently laughing to themselves as their plan was slowly coming to fruition.

" _Come on. `Leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade´…lead by example, and show me how to use the Bust of Destruction."_

 **Bust of Destruction, eh? Wonder how Louise will react when hearing that…or Kamina, for that matter. Probably nipples that are actually guns. Oh wait, that´s already been done before. High School DxD is weird. Anyways, let me know what you think in the reviews, and if you don´t think anything, then tell me what you think about not thinking anything. I´ll be off now, this one took a lot of booze and dedication to finish so quickly, I need to rest. Bye!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Ah, hello! I didn´t see you there. Now, remember last time, when you said you wanted more chapters? Why, I think I have just the thing for you! It´s called chapter 17. A wonderful product of writer´s block, foreseen developments, and Running in the 90´s in the background. A lot of Running in the 90`s. And now for something completely different.**

 **Reviews!**

 **Clockwork Unity: *whistling***

 **And now for something completely different.**

 **Enjoy!**

Fouquet commanded her smallest puppet to stomp near the trio to chase them off the street and toward the conveniently placed weapon on the edge of the forest. And whilst sure, the girl scurried behind the red ball to avoid the fallout, what the thief didn´t expect her partner to lob off her golem´s foot. They couldn´t keep it standing, and so it collapsed forward, onto the path. Although their goal seemed to have been fulfilled anyways, as the man ran over to the mage for cover from the blast. Smirking, Fouquet waited for the dust to settle. It would be simply too tempting an opportunity for the two to waste, wouldn´t it?

However, before they got their eyes back on the prize, their largest golem was hit by a large ball of fire. Their reflexes were good enough to catch the icicle that would´ve pierced right through the hood, and throw it back at the second unwelcome intervention. The dragon Sylphid managed to avoid it with a barrel roll, but nevertheless, now that their surprise attack had failed, they´d lost their advantage, as the thief still had golems at their disposal. Which reminded them that the smallest one was still on the ground, something which needed fixing. A quick wave of the wand, and the earth beneath it shifted, eventually moving like water, ´flowing´ onto the cut leg, and upon taking the form of a foot, came to a standstill. Unlike her now repaired puppet which stood back up to its full height, ready for battle.

Their first move was to use the medium golem to throw some of the tree trunks in the area at the dragon, although it dodged them gracefully and allowed the mages to retaliate with another fireball. This stunned the attacking golem momentarily, but his smaller brother, who´d been in pursuit ever since he got up, avenged him immediately by jumping up toward them, followed by a hard slap. The only thing saving them from a crash was Tabitha´s quick casting of a spell that blew a big ball of air at the ground; all this condensed air was an easy target for Kirche´s flames. The rising gust this resulted in was strong enough for Sylphid to get a second wind in her wings, and postpone their literal funeral.

Fouquet scoffed at the teens´ futile efforts, and raised their wand once more to get the larger golems moving, as the smallest, and thusly nimblest, one herded the trio towards them. They knew that the previous attack had been rather taxing on the beast; there was no way that it would be able to dodge everything at once. So, precisely as they got into range, the thief commanded her constructs to give them a hand, in the most literal of ways. The medium one ripped off its right arm and swung it at them, whilst the biggest one simply tried a right hook. Surprisingly, the dragon managed to outmanoeuvre the sword-arm, but as their other golem´s arm was about to finally incapacitate them, Fouquet kept their confident smirk.

However, that giant explosion that completely halted the attack wiped it right off. Knowing that there was only one possible culprit, the thief´s eyes darted back to where they´d left the other two, ignoring the dragon sailing past their puppet. Of course, there stood a certain mage with pink hair, alone, her wand raised, her horse apparently having fled the scene. No time was wasted as the medium-sized golem reattached his arm and seized her, holding her up to face them. Naturally, Fouquet wasn´t stupid, so with their expertise in wind magic, they snatched the wand right from her little hand before she could cast any more spells.

"What a wonderfully made wand. It´s Albionese Pine, isn´t it? Such beautiful craftsmanship, too…" Ah, perfect. They remembered the voice changing spell correctly. It´s been such a long time since they´d had to use it. After all, this was the first time they had to break into a vault by force; usually, it was humanly possible to breach the locks. However, what else was to be expected from the Academy of Tristain? The only things more heavily protected than that vault are the Royal Treasury, and their bedrooms. It was only natural, as the room in question housed a weapon of mass destruction, or so it was said: the Bust of Destruction. Speaking of, how was the apparent mercenary leader coming along on…where did he go? Into that hole in the soil…?

Fouquet´s train of thought was interrupted by two things happening in such quick succession that the time to react was roughly zero. First, something red burst up from down below, and went right through the elbow of the arm holding the girl, loosening its grip. A moment later, something blue flew right by their head, and snatched said girl from its hand. As their mind caught up, the red thing landed on the puppet in front of them. Actually, that was false. It was drilling right through it, leaving a gaping hole as it passed through its rear and went back into the earth, nearly making it fall apart then and there. Was this…?

It reappeared soon after behind the smallest golem, and, with a spin in the air, sunk its lower half into their puppet like a wolf´s fangs into his prey. Their eyes did not deceive them. It was the very object they´d stolen, the Bust of Destruction. Just how the hell did he get it running? The eyes of the metallic face flashed a deep green, and lines of the same colour ran through its earthen body. It dawned on Fouquet that their creation was now in the enemy´s control. No matter what, it refused to obey, it wouldn´t destroy itself. Their own willpower was completely shut out, as if a carriage moved without a horse.

As it stood up to his full height, it also became clear that it was growing, as the earth seemed to magnetize to its limbs, making them shoot out in large bursts. Soon, it easily towered over the medium-sized golem, and came face to face with the thief themselves. To be more precise, it was actually the Bust that came face to face with her; if the man were to stand at the top of his weapon, he´d actually stand higher than them. Without delay, it swatted the small fry aside with the back of its hand. They didn´t bother repairing that golem. It was disposed of with such ease that it´d take more willpower to keep running than it was worth. The Bust then began speaking, no, the man was speaking, but the face was projecting his voice from somewhere through its own mouth.

"Through this very drill, a union is born! A union of a soulless being and a spirited demon! A union of a shared soul! A union that unveils new embers for the fire burning within! Those flames carry us from the earth toward the heavens themselves! **Golem Lagann!** "

Once his grand speech was finished, the golem began to deform; before, it was basically a simple human torso, akin to dolls, whereas now, its belly was crumbling, eventually revealing an open mouth, lined with teeth, and above it, a single hole, presumably the nose, was flanked by two glowing yellow eyes (probably the concentrated tree resin). If they were to compare the face of their former puppet to anything, then the best fit would be a demonic grimace. It then let out a mighty battlecry together with the pilot as the tree bark in its body formed two large plates on the side of its shoulders, emblazoned with an emblem. The Dai-Gurren Brigade´s emblem, to be exact, a flaming skull with Kamina´s glasses. At the same time, the rubble that had fallen off began floating in midair. It took a few moments before it took the form of the pilot´s shades, and flew back up onto the golem´s face.

After Kamina was done roaring, he pressed down on the grip and watched as the gauge on the screen in front of him slowly filled up with white light, in an outgoing spiral. It being completely filled was the signal for his onslaught to begin, which happened in less than three seconds. He looked upward at his foe, who was shown on a panorama-esque screen on the inside of the hatch above him, and commanded his Ganmen to march forward, which it did, at a slow pace at first. It had been a while since he´d last piloted one of these bad boys, he needed a minute or two to get back in the swing of things. Though he´d never expected to find Simon´s Ganmen here, of all places. How did it get into whatchamacallitland? And why the hell could he combine with the thief´s golems? Questions for later.

The mage tried giving him a hook to his shoulder, but he did manage to sidestep it with relative ease, and counter with a punch of his own to the enemy´s stomach area. As expected, it didn´t keel over, even though a lot of the earth in that region crumbled and gave way. It was quickly replaced, however, so in the end, that attack did roughly nothing except put him in a dangerous position as his hand was momentarily stuck. After all, the constructs were both blessed with two hands and feet. The next attack connected with his right arm, and it appeared as though Fouquet wanted to tear it off, banking on him not being able to regenerate. As if the mighty Kamina would need such a crutch.

Two drills of dirt shot forth from his knuckles, and pierced right through the very area that had just regenerated. However, seeing as he had a wonderful grip on the enemy, he thought to go for a record in golem tossing, and dug his heels into the ground as he turned. Safe to say, he had quite the throwing arm, as not only was the mage forced to let go because of the sheer momentum, but it flew for a good while before its body hit the floor. As Kamina watched his handywork, the enemy stood up again, fully intact. Well, bollocks. He kinda hoped that Fouquet would fall unconscious from that, but apparently not. Honestly, it was shocking to see that hooded figure still standing at the top of the golem, even after it fell over. That only invigorated him further, however. He´d simply have to finish this in a single move. It was almost lunchtime, after all, and he had a show to put on.

The green glow permeating all across Golem Lagann flared up in an upward spiral, a signal to show that it´s go time. Its glasses flew off its face, glowing brighter than anything else, and with a roar, it grabbed and flung them toward its foe. The mage barely had the time to give a dodge command as the shades had already split in two and hit both pairs of limbs, completely immobilizing the puppet in mid-air, carried up there by the sheer force alone. The glow around Golem Lagann then slowly manifested into dozens of drills all over its body, before they were retracted.

" **FINISHING MOVE!"**

A very loud battlecry later, it pointed a hand to the sky, and all the drills seemed to have combined as they shot out all at once in the form of a single long drill. A moment later, it had already gotten shorter, but much, much thicker. It was then heaved downward, into Golem´s waiting left hand, which gave it a nice spin. The ever present green glow then focused around its feet, causing another small cyclone in the dust below. With a mighty yell, it leapt forward.

" **GIGA…"**

The drill appeared to turn ever faster as it approached its target.

" **DRILL…"**

Golem Lagann had completely vanished, and in its place, there was only a shining green light propelling the drill ever forward. It was nearly upon the enemy, who was desperately trying to break free from the binding, but to no avail.

" **BREAK!"**

And with that, it was all over as an incredibly loud and grating noise echoed throughout the entire area. The mecha landed on the ground behind the earthen puppet, and for a second, the world seemed to stand still. Then, its shades returned back to their rightful place, and with an enormous explosion, the heap of dirt was obliterated, leaving no trace of its existence other than the dusty downpour that followed for a minute after.

As the victor paused briefly to savour the moment, something landed on Golem Lagann´s shoulder. In response, he opened the hatch on the top of Lagann, and stood up to face the four spectators to his fight. With a grin, naturally. As Tabitha focused on tending to her injured familiar, Louise walked up to Kamina, albeit a bit wobbly as the mecha entered a pose which facilitated a dragon on its shoulder. Thankfully, Kirche was there to keep her steady. …wait, what?

"Wha –" Any comment Louise would´ve made was cut off.

"Don´t misinterpret this, Vallière. My darling would never forgive me if I let something happen to you, that´s all. Speaking of which…darling! You never told me that you were a mage!" Kirche looked back to Kamina with overly acted, yet genuine admiration in her eyes, who corrected her with his grin intact.

"The hell are you on about, Zerbst? You don´t need to be a mage to pilot a Ganmen!" Tabitha blinked as she heard that, but went straight back to healing Sylphid, with a hint of a small smile on her face. Although she shared the same emotion as her friend did at a specific term he used.

"Ganmen?" Confused curiosity. It was a completely new word for both of them, so obviously, Kamina had to explain a bit further.

"Yeah, like this Lagann here." He smacked the red cheek of his brother´s mecha to illustrate, though Kirche still had that expression on her face, so he clarified that this was but one of many weapons of his world, and that this was a comparatively small one to boot. Especially when compared to the Dai-Gunzan Simon stole from the beastmen using this very Lagann unit.

"Kamina, I have a question. How do you know this is your brother´s?" Louise finally asked, after coming to terms with the fact that all this time, he had indeed been telling the truth. His answer was very simple. All he did was reach back into the mecha and pull out a piece of cloth.

"Because of this." It was a red cape, and on it was a blue skull with white shades, together with a few more orange flame motifs at its hem. "Those look familiar?" He asked, pointing at those very shades, and after a brief comparison, Louise nodded, satisfied with his answer.

"Yep. I´d recognize that silly shape anywhere."

"Silly?!"

"Yes, silly. Or what else would you call it?"

"Badass, of course!" At that, his partner squinted very heavily, intent on trying to find just what he saw in that particular shape that made it ´badass´. Her head ached from just thinking such a vulgar word. She´d better wash it with soap later.

"I have not the foggiest notion as to what you might be talking about. Perhaps it´s too banal for me to understand." Was her answer after a few moments of intense study. His reaction was music to her ears. For she had the perfect comeback.

"You think I´m stupid or something?!" It seemed the others had, too.

"Obviously."  
"Yep!"  
"Stupid."

Performers wished to have that level of synchronization. And it destroyed any kind of momentum Kamina had in this conversation, resulting in him leaning against Lagann for a minute as he recovered. Eventually, he did regain his bravado, and spoke with his usual confidence.

"Anyways, I assume that this´ll be sufficient proof, _Mistress Vallière_?" Using that nickname seemed to catch her off-guard, as she went slightly red. She knew that she now had to rectify her mistake from back when she doubted his story, so she did the noble thing and apologized.

"Yes, Kamina. You´ve provided sufficient proof of your story. I will believe your tall tale." Everything went silent. As in, even more silent than it usually was when Tabitha was around. It made Louise quite nervous, especially when Kamina and Zerbst shrugged simultaneously.

"Talk about a hardass."

"Yeah, I´m a noble, and I´ve yet to hear something this aloof."

"And here I thought you felt something for me, Louise." Kirche went briefly silent and wore a shocked expression.

"Wh-wha…"

"Don´t tell me you don´t remember yesterday night? Me and our guest found out about those feelings, but now I see that I was wrong after all." Upon hearing his obviously faked tone, gone was the shock as the germanian now seemed all too eager to continue.

"Goodness gracious, Vallière. Maybe I should bind him to myself after all, if this is how you treat him." She tried setting him up for conquest, not even listening to her victim´s stutters any at this point. This was her opportunity for her to finally bed him.

"K-K…Kamina, I…"

"Perhaps I should take you up on that offer, Zerbst." The perfect chance. Kirche pounced on it, ignoring Louise´s embarrassed stammering.

"I…Kamina, I…"

"Oh, how wonderful, darling! I know, how about I come to your room toni –"

"Kamina, I do have feelings for you!" Louise yelled all of a sudden, to shut them both up. To surprisingly good effect, as the air became much thicker after the echoes of her outburst faded, and the two just stared at her, slack-jawed.

"…hold on, what?"

"I-I like you as a p-partner. That´s all."

Silence once more. Before the tension in the air dissipated with Kamina sighing in relief and holding his hand above his chest. Kirche was similarly relieved, it seemed. It was probably fake, an act to mock her, as usual.

"Phew, and here I thought I was about to get a confession of love. Geez, I almost had a heart attack!"

"Tell me about it, darling. I almost thought I would have a rival in your conquest!" Though it appeared surprisingly genuine, which it was, as Louise nearly ruined it all for the tanned teen.

"…I _do_ still have a girlfriend, you know." Ah, unlike a potential crush on Louise´s side, that was easy to take care of.

" _Was sie nicht weiß, macht sie nicht heiß."_

"Could I get that in a language I understand?"

"She doesn´t need to know."

"And we don´t need to fuck."

"But –"

"Listen, at this point, your answer should be a simple ´Touché´." Derf interjected, giving someone else the wonderful opportunity to hop into the conversation herself once more.

"The hunk of scrap is correct. Give up, Zerbst. As long as he´s my familiar, he´ll never have s-s-sex with you." The germanian seemed unfazed, as she laughed, before wagging a finger in the air, all the while ignoring Derf´s cries.

"Vallière, Vallière, Vallière. You just called him your partner a minute ago, and there are no runes on him. He´s free to bed whomever he chooses, and get bedded by whomever wishes so. In other words, me. And you can´t do anything about it." The fact that she stuck out her tongue in that irritating manner made the truth she spoke all the worse. Louise needed to rebut.

"Zerbst –"

"Story." Without anyone noticing, Tabitha had snuck up beside Kamina, and was demanding the fulfilment of his promise, seemingly done with patching up her familiar, who was watching some birds flying by. He was about to oblige her with a smile, but was stopped by Louise.

"Kamina, could you just get this thing –"

"Ganmen." Exhausted, she just complied and used the proper term.

"…could you move this Ganmen back to the Academy? I promised you-know-who that I´d be back as quickly as possible."

"Gotcha. Well then, who wants to ride shotgun?" No one had any clue as to what he meant, a sentiment which Kirche took upon herself to express.

"Come again?"

"There´s enough space in there for at least two people. If one of them isn´t Zerbst, anyways." This comment was more than enough to rile up the germanian, who stomped on the ground in her fit of anger.

"Hey! What´s that supposed to mean?!"

"You´re too big. In general." He said, staring at two specific parts of her body.

"No I´m not!"

"Tabitha, if you would?" A single word was all that was needed to convey everything. The answer was probably so curt because she was in such a hurry to hear the story; a good indicator of that was her sitting on her familiar already.

"Fat."

"I´m not fat!" Was the immediate response, but the germanian knew exactly what her friend meant, and another person took great pleasure in clarifying the short (to put it mildly) comment.

"Not the adjective, Zerbst. She means the noun. You´ve got those two huge lumps of fat dangling on your chest. Just how would they fit?" Louise all but gloated, finally being able to turn those udders against her nemesis, who was seething furiously as her eyes went from Sylphid, to Louise, to Lagann, then to Kamina, before finally settling back on the dragon.

"Fine, I´ll get onto Sylphid." With a sigh, she finally gave in, and was dragged onto the dragon once more that day, before it took off with a mighty flap of its wings. The gust made Louise flinch, but thankfully, she prepared for it in time, so she didn´t lose her footing. Upon checking, she thanked the Founder for granting her the foresight to brace herself. That was a mighty long fall indeed. Before she could get slightly dizzy from the height, she heard something hitting metal. Turns out, it was Kamina, sitting inside Lagann, tapping a finger on the Ganmen to get her attention. He seemed to be a little impatient.

"Come on, Louise, we´ll miss lunch at this rate." Figures. She made her way over to him, and upon peering inside the mecha, she noticed something rather unnerving.

"Where is the second seat?"

"What second seat?"

"W-well, there has to be another seat, otherwise…"

"…you´ll have to sit on my lap. Right. Now hop on in." Her instincts took over, and she lashed out at his response.

"You perverted…!" She would´ve, anyway, had he not sighed and cut her off almost immediately.

"Do you want to walk back?"

"…no." Kamina´s mood seemed to improve at that, and he smiled, urging her in once more by smacking the side of Lagann.

"Well said. Now, ´get in the damn robot´, as we say in the Brigade."

The trip back took a while, giving Louise ample time to be embarrassed by their current proximity. She tried to distract herself with a look around the interior of Lagann. It was small, just barely big enough for the two of them, but thankfully, Kamina had the foresight of leaving the hatch open. If he didn´t, who knows how tightly they would´ve been squeezed together...the fact that her face was outside his field of vision made the red colouring that much more bearable. Anyways, the inside had a fascinating look to it, there was this stained glass right in front of her that appeared to be some sort of black spiral, with an odd object stuck in the middle, emitting a deep, ear-pounding pulse of a sound. It was accompanied by a faint green glow trying to shine through the cracks.

She then noted that Kamina was seemingly controlling this behemoth with no effort whatsoever. From what she could tell, it was the weird grips that were protruding from the sides of his seat with which he did it; they were reminiscent of a sword´s handle, combined with a trigger of a gun, stuck inside a circle at the end of a long metal bar, which could move with his motions. Apparently, he caught her gaze, as the rhythmic thuds of the colossus stopped, and he removed his hands from the controls. Upon seeing her questioning look, he asked something she´d least expect to hear. Though that very fact should probably have made her expect it, this was Kamina after all.

"Wanna give it a go?" At first, she wanted to deny it, but she caved in to her curiosity and desire to finally accomplish something almost immediately. After all, who else would ever get the opportunity to control such a grand weapon? However, she still had some concerns, which she timidly voiced.

"A-are you sure? What if I break something?" He didn´t seem to share them, though, as he waved her off and quickly took that load off her shoulders.

"Don´t worry, Louise. In all my time as the leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, no one has ever destroyed a Ganmen by piloting it." The tension left her body, and with a much more sure tone, she asked her next question. Her enthusiasm was evident.

"Okay then. Could you tell me how?" This time, he shared her feelings as he explained.

"Sure thing. First off, you grab these bad boys right here, and just use your will to move it. It´s not that hard, really. Imagine the Ganmen to be an extension of your self, another you, but bigger." She soaked it all up like a sponge, and in her head, she went through the motions of cataloguing all this information. It was like the mage did in class, even going so far as to subconsciously, yet physically scribbling all of it on a non-existent notebook. Quickly, it became apparent that his explanation would continue when she put the first step into practice.

"…alright then. Here goes nothing." She tentatively touched the grip, which gave her a brief jolt, but she got over it and closed her hand around it, waiting for further instructions; they came immediately.

"You should be feeling as if you are expanding a little on the inside." That was not the case, however, as she realized after a short period of focusing.

"…no, I don´t. It´s more like I´m getting crushed under immense pressure." Her statement appeared to catch him off-guard, judging from the scratching and confusion that were audible in his request.

"Huh. That´s odd. Never heard of that before. Try to make it move." She had a bad feeling about this.

"O-okay…" Louise commanded it to lift its leg, but somehow, it didn´t. In fact, nothing happened at all. D-did she…?

"Louise?"

Did she really…?

"Hey, Louise…"

She failed. She had failed even something as simple as this. Kamina had said over and over again that it was so easy. And yet, she failed to even express her will enough to make a stupid Ganmen move! He said that it required no magic, and still she failed! Why?! Why was she such a goddamn failure?! No, she didn´t even deserve to be called a failure. Failures are a chance to learn something new. But she never learned anything new. She was a flat **ZERO**. They had been right all along.

"Louise!"

All those times she´d been called that flashed through her head, and every time she heard it in her mind, that pressure, that cold, suffocating pressure, it became more unbearable as she felt herself shrink further and further down this dark pit.

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._

 _Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero._ _Zero. Zero._

" **Louise!"**

Until a yell cut right through all of it, and brought her back to reality. As she woke up, she also noticed just how much she was trembling. A random gust of wind blew by, and she shivered even harder at the incredible cold.

" _Shhhhhh, it´s all right, Louise. I´m here."_

It was at this point that her mind caught up to the fact that he´d ripped her hands off the controls and had been holding them ever since, as well as hugging her from behind. She would´ve usually taken to screaming and pushing him away, but not this time. His hands were wonderfully warm and comforting at the moment, and she welcomed it with open arms. Figuratively, anyways, as she shrank further into his embrace, still quivering from this unholy temperature.

" _There, there."_ He whispered into her ear, and put his chin on her head, before starting to hum a soft tune. She could feel the vibrations of his deep voice on her scalp, and over the course of a few minutes, it began to have an almost hypnotic effect, particularly once he began stroking her hands and made the both of them sway to the rhythm; it was an ensemble of soothing actions that made her completely forget all about her breakdown as she closed her eyes. It had been such a long time since she felt like this, at peace with herself. The only other one to ever show her this kind of affection was very far away.

" _I guess I can visit her soon…"_ Was her last thought as she finally gave up her meagre resistance against the world of dreams. Once any and all tension left her body and she began snoring lightly, Kamina stopped his lullaby and chuckled to himself. And she wondered why he always compared her to Simon. They were so alike, it wasn´t even funny anymore. Okay, maybe a little. Like in body type, which shouldn´t even be a thing. Oh well.

" _Makes her look cuter, I guess."_ He thought as he looked at their reflection on the glass of the gauge, before taking control of Golem Lagann once more, and making it move again with large steps. Oddly enough, they seemed a little on the light side, but after listening closely, it was just like before. He must´ve misheard. So he forgot about it and focused on making his mecha march ahead, onward towards the Academy as quickly as possible without waking up the sleeping beauty.

Henrietta was desperately searching around the courtyard for her friend. Agnès taking charge of the operation had meant a very quick first response, and allowed them to resolve most of the matter in about an hour, if not less. But that also meant that Louise should have been back a long time ago. And if she trusted her eyesight, which she did, then her friend was nowhere to be found. What made it all the worse was that her guard still didn´t want to send out a search party, as the thief may return and cause more chaos, which was a rather disconcerting, yet possible scenario. Meaning that Louise might be stuck out there, with the thief, all alone. Just the thought was more than enough to make Henrietta have a sinking feeling in her gut, a sinking that could only ever be matched by the entire Albionese fleet of airships sinking at once.

" _Please, Founder, let Louise return to me safe and sound."_ She whispered beneath her breath, and went to continue helping with the effort. Ever since her friend had left, she´d been among the wounded, helping them out with her healing spells, and the smile she´d been taught back when she was but a child. It was the smile you´d expect to see of a princess and queen; kind and uplifting, with a tinge of humbleness mixed in. Her father had told her that it was her duty to help the populace of Tristain by acting as a mother for all. The ruling would be done by her husband, but it fell to her to lend them her ear, to act on their behalf, and most important of all, smile when times were trying, smile when no one else could.

" _Remember, Henrietta. The ruler is nothing without his people, and without a ruler, people have no one to look up to and will descend into madness."_

And today, she´d seen first-hand just what kind of sway she had over these people: just by telling them that everything was alright and smiling at them as their wounds closed, most of them were humbled, recovered from the shock of all this turmoil, and announced with vigour that they´d help with the operation. Of course, there were those that needed rest, but they seemed rather sad at the prospect of not being able to help. There was one particular individual that came to mind, who was adamant about aiding her in treating the others, but she had to turn her down. Nevertheless, these people had cheered her up, and she felt a lot more ready in taking on that sacred duty her father left her with. Although that did nothing to quell her worries.

It was at that point that she took note of something odd. She couldn´t place it at first, but something was definitely off. It took her a few seconds, but after her unease grew, she could finally locate the source. The ground shook, with the rhythm of footsteps. Her shoes had made this far more difficult than it had to be, but once she realized what was happening, she yelled for Agnès, and called for an immediate evacuation of the civilians and wounded. Once her guard caught on to the reason behind her order, commands were immediately issued to get everyone into a neighbouring courtyard which had remained unaffected by the previous assault.

The rest of them, which included most of the faculty and guards, prepared for battle as the golem approached. Weirdly enough, it seemed to be larger than before, and the thief at the top looked rounder. In fact, it didn´t look like Fouquet whatsoever, unless there was a metal face beneath that hood, which Henrietta doubted severely. That fact seemed to make the headmaster panic, as he advised caution. Upon receiving a few questioning looks, he clarified that Fouquet had managed to figure out how to use the Bust of Destruction, a statement that made most of those present pale. After all, Osmond himself was the one that locked the Bust in the vault all those years ago with the explanation that if it fell into the wrong hands, it would no doubt mean doom for Tristain, if not the entirety of Halkegenia.

"I can only hope that they´ve come to their senses and wish to return it…" He mumbled to himself, yet, with the very same breath, he readied a spell that would trap the enemy with a veritable cascade of water. Agnès scoffed as she overheard him. Yeah right. This was a mage, and a criminal one at that. As if they would listen to reason. Brimir knows that regular mages are completely unreasonable, so why would a criminal be any different? Oh wait, there was always the probable option that they´d be worse. So the grip on her sword only got tighter as the golem slowly began to step over the Academy walls.

However, it seemed to completely ignore them in favour of stepping towards the nearby tower which housed the student´s quarters. Once it stood before said tower, it just completely stopped moving. As did the princess, when she realized just what window it was stood in front of. She shot Agnès a look, and got a nod in return. Her friend had also realized that the golem was currently stood in front of Louise´s room. An odd sound reached her ears, but it was so faint that she had to look back up to convince herself to have heard a hatch on the Bust open. She could make out a long, red cape with a blue symbol on the back, and…pink hair.

"Louise!" She yelled, before immediately running into the tower at the highest speed her shoes would allow, ignoring Agnès´ yells for her to stop. She didn´t, however, and whilst Henrietta knew full well it would upset her friend, she also knew for a fact that Agnès knew that her order would fall on deaf ears, proven by the sound of boots following her. The echoes of their steps in the tower were all that accompanied her as she made their way up to Louise´s room. It didn´t take that long for her to be out of breath and consequently for her guard to overtake her on the long, winding staircase, further rubbing it in her face of just how badly out of shape she was. She cursed beneath her breath as she made her way upwards at what felt like a snail´s pace.

However, once she reached the right floor, she felt herself speed up again now that she was on an even floor again, her shoes be damned. Her feet may be hurting enough to keep her from running for weeks after this, but knowing that Louise was in danger was enough to keep her going. And so, soon after cursing her shoes for the umpteenth time that day, she finally got to her friend´s door, and stopped right in her tracks as she took in the scene. It couldn´t be. Louise was wrapped up in her bedsheets, surrounded by the headmaster and his second-in-command, two students, as well as Agnès and Kamina, and on those sheets…was blood.

 **Rip bedsheets. And maybe Louise. Who the fuck knows. I certainly don´t, I just come up with this shit as I go along. I do hope that you enjoyed this ride as much as I did writing it.**

 **And now for something completely different.**

 **Bye!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay, so correct me if I´m wrong, but this fic is now over a year old, and I didn´t get the damn memo. How the fuck did I miss my baby´s birthday?! How could I?! I´m a monster!**

 **Ahem. Sudoku aside (FOR NOW), I´ll just answer the review, and explain a little something.**

 **Gamma Cavy: It´s a good summary, I´ll give you that. Unfortunately, besides you telling me that it´s hard to pick out what´s handled best, I have nothing to work with here. I´m grateful that you took the time to review, but you really didn´t tell me anything. I know what happens in my chapter, so please refrain from just summarizing it; give me your opinion on it.**

 **It doesn´t have to be a 1337 critique, just tell me what you thought was good in particular (and maybe why, if you can be bothered). Hell, just a joke that makes me chuckle for a second is better than a summary. It doesn´t even have to be witty, I laugh at fart and dick jokes, for God´s sake! I´m sorry to have nothing else to say, no silly goof or anything, but that´s why summaries don´t belong into the review section.**

 **I hate to sound this patronizing, so let´s change the subject.**

 **I´m sure you´ve noticed the change of name. Let´s just say that there´s been a change of plans. That´s about it. Oh, and this is an extra long chapter because of the birthday, so I won´t keep you any longer.**

 **Action!**

Louise hesitated for a moment before knocking on the headmaster´s gilded door. After a second or two, she heard him give permission to enter. She turned the handle, and opened the door, to be greeted by the back side of his black robes. He was staring out the window, and it wasn´t hard to guess just what it was he was looking at; wherever one was in the Academy, it was large enough that one could always catch at least a tiny glimpse of it.

"Please, take a seat, Miss Vallière. There are some things we must discuss." She complied, and sat down on one of the cushioned wooden chairs that were facing Osmond´s desk. Upon hearing the creaking, the old man turned to face her, and sat down himself, folding his hands on top of the table, before smiling at her. "Congratulations are in order, Miss Vallière. Your quick actions resulted in the recovery of the Bust of Destruction, and ended the persistent threat of Fouquet." Yet, those words of praise sounded so very hollow. She didn´t accomplish anything at all. And she made sure to let him know.

"Sir, with all due respect, the one who deserves praise is Kamina, not me. He was the one who used the Bust of Destruction to defeat the thief and bring it back." He seemed to have anticipated her complaint, as his smile gave way to a weary expression, and he let out a long sigh. Leaning back in his chair, he addressed her concerns.

"As I´m sure you know, we cannot give him any credit for his deeds. If word got out that a mere commoner took out a square-class criminal, then there would not only be riots from the peasants as their faith in our power wavers, but the nobles robbed by the thief would be humiliated even further. For his own and the country´s safety, we are sweeping his achievement under the rug." The fact that what he was saying was absolutely correct made Louise´s last sapling of hope wilt beneath the harsh cold nature of the world. And here she had hoped that at least Kamina would get something out of this ordeal. But, sadly, that, too, was not to be. "That is not to say we won´t acknowledge him unofficially." That tiny addition nearly made her lose her cool and cry out in surprise as all of a sudden, the wilted sapling was in full bloom. The man chuckled as he saw her try to restrain her obvious happiness at his words, and raised three fingers.

"I, Colbert and the princess each gave him one request for us to fulfil. One for retrieving the Bust of Destruction, another for eliminating a nation-wide threat, and one last for protecting our students." Louise wanted to jump for joy, but refrained from doing so, on account of her dignity. Besides, she still had a few questions. For instance _"What did he ask for?"_.

"Ah, I´m afraid that I can only reveal two of his wishes to you. His final request was to remain private. Anyways, his first demand was to know where we got the Bust from. He claimed that it belonged to his little brother, and since he managed to wield it to such great effect, I believed him. I will not reveal that story to you, however, Miss Vallière. I hope you understand." She did. It was none of her business to know that sort of thing. Anything involving that weapon was classified to the point that only a select few knew its origin and power; that being royalty, the headmaster himself, and his second-in-command, in this case Mister Colbert. But there was still one more thing for him to tell her. Which he did, after checking the watch on his desk.

"As for his second request, I should probably let you know that you have about two hours left." Er, what? What in the Founder´s name was that supposed to mean? "To get ready for the ball, I mean." She closed her eyes, opened them again, briefly checked to see if her ears were functioning, and, after all that, still wasn´t sure whether she´d heard the old man correctly or not.

"…pardon?" It was better to err on the safe side and ask.

"A ball. He wished for us to hold a ball tonight, around dinnertime." She erred wrong. Her mind went into a complete standstill as it tried to digest this incredibly hard to process revelation, so hard in fact that she nearly regurgitated it through her slacked jaws.

"You might want to hurry, Miss Vallière. The clock is ticking, and time is an unforgiving mistress." He told her with no small amount of mirth in his voice as he held the clock up for her to witness the thin finger jump forward a single, tiny bit. Twice. Thrice. And there it went again. Why was she just watching time slip through her fingers like sand?

"…very well. Have a nice day, Lord Osmond." She answered, still dazed from this unexpected turn of events. Standing up, she gave a curt bow, then stumbled out the door with as much grace as she could muster in her hurried walk. As she shut the door, a tiny brown mouse crawled out from beneath her chair and hopped into his master´s hands.

"Ah, there you are, Chuchu!" The headmaster exclaimed as he pet his familiar, giving it the occasional tickle on the belly. He briefly recalled what that man had called Chuchu: a molepig, just like the man who gifted him this wondrous creature all those years ago together with the Bust of Destruction. He never saw the face of his saviour, but he remembered the task he was given with absolute clarity. If anyone could operate the Bust, or called Chuchu a molepig, then he was to relinquish it to that person. And Miss Vallière´s familiar had done both as if it were nothing; adding to the fact that he could prove to be tied to it through the cloak it was wrapped in, it had been surprisingly easy for Osmond to give up the object he´d been holding on to for over half his life.

"It´s been nearly five decades…I wonder if the good sir is still alive. What do you think, Chuchu?"

"Chu!"

Osmond chuckled as he gave his familiar another affectionate belly-rub.

"Well said, old friend. Would you like some cheese?"

"Chu!"

"Good, good. We need to keep these old bones working a bit longer. Change is coming, and we´ll have to help these whippersnappers through it, won´t we?"

"Chu!"

Louise was striding as quickly as she could down the hallway, thinking about how on Halkegenia she´d be able to get herself in a shape fit for a ball. The way back to her room only took five minutes because of her pace, and the second she closed that door, her eyes fixated the closet. Opening it, her gaze immediately zoned in on the dress that she never got the chance to wear. It was coloured in a beautiful light purple hue, and had the smallest of sparkles if held against light. Naturally, it was custom-made, as they were in fact ice crystals, but had been enchanted to never melt; thankfully, they also lost their cold temperature in the process, as well as their extreme reflective capabilities. It simply wouldn´t do to blind the other attendants of a ball, after all. She walked over to her mirror, and held it to her chest, checking how it looked on her.

She didn´t get that good a look, so she entertained the insane thought, that maybe, just perhaps, if she wore it, she´d have a better gauge on how it suited her. But she already found her first obstacle: there was no one to help her put it on, and the noble didn´t exactly have the time to look for a servant that wasn´t otherwise occupied. Well, she didn´t exactly have much of a choice, now didn´t she? She went to place the dress back in the closet when the she saw the reflection of the blood on her bed. Recollections of a time past entered her mind. ´A time past´ being roughly a quarter of an hour ago.

 _Louise awoke to a pungent smell penetrating her nostrils like a hunter´s arrow would a deer. As she tried to place just what it was, Henrietta entered her sight. It seemed as if she´d been worried about her, as the princess went to hug her almost immediately. It was then that her eyes helped along her nose in figuring out what that smell was; turns out, it was blood. Oddly enough, she didn´t seem to feel pain, leading her to believe that this was not her own. Once Henrietta was done hugging her, she explained._

 _Well, to be fair, at first, it was more of a lecture of how much Louise had worried her ever since she chased after Fouquet. But upon seeing her friend becoming incredibly meek and timid, the princess let up, and told her about how she got here. Kamina had used his mecha to bring her sleeping self to her room, as it was conveniently just as high as her window. Henrietta then went on to tell her that she´d immediately run up here together with Agnès to capture what they thought to be Fouquet, but as it was a simple misunderstanding that was cleared up rather quickly, Kamina and the two other students were called to Lord Osmond´s office, and the princess decided to listen to their report as well._

 _Speaking of Osmond, he was pivotal in clearing up said misunderstanding, as he and Mister Colbert were the ones who levitated up to her room far faster than she and Agnès could run, so they caught him red-handed in tucking her in. Giggling at the tomato-coloured expression she was seeing, the princess then went on to explain the bloodstain. It was Kamina´s blood (something Louise could´ve guessed, to be honest, as the same thing had occurred earlier this very day), as he´d tried to pet the headmaster´s familiar who´d followed its master into her room, and it retaliated by biting him. And sure, he did get healed by that student called Tabitha pretty quickly, that didn´t stop him from bleeding on her sheets first. Before the princess left her, she added that Osmond had demanded Louise to go to his office as soon as she woke up. And that there would be a surprise for her later on, though when asked what it was, a giggle and "It wouldn´t be much of a surprise then, now would it?" was all she got in terms of an answer._

Thinking back on it, her friend was talking about the ball, wasn´t she? She could´ve had the decency to at least drop a hint of some sort about having to prepare for such an event! Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk. Regardless of whether she knew or not, the pressure would be on all the same. And honestly, that proverb is something the princess could take note of. Louise left out six instances in which her friend complained about her shoes. Pushing that thought aside, she opened her door, hoping that there was a servant nearby to help her change.

Oh, excellent. There was a perfectly good maid standing on the other side. The question as to why was stuttered out after the two of them shared in crying out in surprise.

"I apologize for startling you, Miss Vallière. I heard that you had woken up, and…well, first off, allow me to assist you in preparing for the ball. My request can wait." The maid answered with a few pants mixed in as she was still trying to catch her breath. Louise, in turn, nodded, and though she was slightly curious about this ´request´, she was also in a hurry to get ready.

"Thank you…Siesta, was it?" Was her response as she walked over to her closet and picked out her dress again. When she turned to hand the cloth over to the maid, however, she found her to be still standing in the doorframe, frozen. "Is something wrong?" That seemed to be enough of a wakeup-call, as Siesta shook her head.

"N-no. I was just surprised that you called me by my name, that´s all." The noble didn´t understand what she was talking about until the general lack of pain made it dawn on her.

"I guess Kamina is to thank for that." She stated with a small smile, which the maid reciprocated.

"I guess he is. Now then, let´s get you freshened up, Miss Vallière. You are one of the guests of honour, after all." Hold on. What was that?

"I am what?"

"Didn´t you hear? This ball is being held to celebrate your victory over Fouquet." She groaned loudly as her fingers pinched her nose.

"…thank you for telling me. I really needed the extra pressure."

"Always glad to be of service." Siesta spoke with a not-so-innocent smile, before getting to work. The two spent at least twenty minutes just trying to get Louise into that dress; not because it didn´t fit her or anything (much to her dismay, it was right on the edge of being too large), but simply because it was such a delicate piece of clothing, and the straps were concealed quite well on the back. Also, the risk of any of the small, glittering orbs was enough of a deterrent to any kind of haste. But as they sighed in unison at the end of it, their heads began to ache as they realized that their work had just begun. Jewellery was next, thankfully the least time-consuming and perilous ordeal of them all; there was a small box on her makeup table with a pair of pink earrings and a silver necklace, adorned with an emerald, inside.

So once that was done, the daunting task of makeup reared its ugly head. Though with all the different flasks Louise had on her desk, perhaps it was more than just one head; putting on makeup was truly the Hydra of this ordeal. And seeing as the maid had about as little experience with this as one could get, she decided to fetch the mage something to eat, since she missed lunch (though Siesta did keep quiet about Kamina asking the kitchen staff to put aside a dish or two for his partner). Louise was quite grateful for her kind gesture. However, since she didn´t want to potentially ruin her efforts by slipping up whilst eating, she put off her task until she was done with her meal. A few minutes after leaving, Siesta returned with a huge plate full of delicious smelling food.

"Thank you." Louise said, before praying to the Founder. Meanwhile, the maid, completely caught off-guard once more by the expression of gratitude, took a seat on the chair next to the door. It was unbelievable. It had been just a few weeks since Kamina´s arrival and his fight with Sir Gramont, where he´d been attacked for insinuating a better relationship with the nobles, and here she was, being thanked by one! On top of that, it might just be _the_ most prideful one in the entire Academy! It got her to finally muster up the courage to voice her request as she went to comb her pink hair.

"Um, Miss Vallière?" She asked, over the noises of silver hitting the ceramic plate.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Could…could I ask something of you?" The sound of cutlery went silent, the tension in the air was tangible right from the get-go of this conversation. A commoner requesting anything from a noble was nearly unheard of. The only things commoners ever received from the upper class were either part of a contract or a gift that the aristocrat gave up of their own volition, generally tied to a long history of servitude to the family, often over generations.

"That depends. What is it you want?" Louise answered, as she had a debt to repay here; after all, it was only with Siesta´s help that she managed to get into a somewhat presentable state at all. A small demand should be no problem for her anyways, and it´d be easy to keep under wraps.

"I would like for you to share some of your knowledge with me." For a minute, she thought to have misheard. Knowledge? Just what on earth would a peasant want to do with that? She had expected the maid to ask for money, vacation, Founder, even the permission to b-b-bed her would have been more plausible than knowledge (that does not mean she would´ve agreed, though!)! Remaining calm as she went through the possibilities as to the maid´s reasoning, she decided shortly after to make a simple inquiry into this instead of getting another migraine before the ball.

"…what exactly brought this on?" However, Siesta seemed reluctant to answer, and dodged the question.

"Well, you are the greatest mage at this school in terms of know-how, besides Miss Tabitha. And, how should I put this…you appear much more approachable to me than her. I mean no offense to Miss Tabitha, but she constantly has her nose buried in a book, and her explanations are incredibly bare bones." And whilst the mage was not exactly happy about having her actual question ignored, she felt more compelled to continue on with this train of thought.

"So, to summarize, you came to me because you think I´m…capable?"

"Yes. I respect your intelligence, Miss Vallière, all of us servants do. We might not always like your attitude towards us, sure. But we all believe in the fact that you are incredibly smart." There was this odd, floaty feeling right around her chest area. Louise didn´t know exactly from what it stemmed exactly, all she knew was that it nearly forced a giddy smile onto her face, had she not the self-control of **Steel**. Even still, the discord between her heart and her face was audible in her voice.

"Th-thank you. A-anyways, what did you want to know?"

"I...I would like for you to teach me how to make a potion or two." Hesitation. On one hand, alchemy was only conducted by the upper class, especially water mages, as they could manipulate the solutions they created at will. The idea of a commoner standing at an alchemy table and brewing potions was certainly a weird image. But Louise had grown somewhat accustomed to such oddities by now. Besides, it wasn´t an egregious offense to the Founder´s teachings, unlike handing over a wand to a member of the lower class; that was tantamount to heresy, and would end with your head under the guillotine. Unless you were germanian; another heresy to add to the huge pile of barbarism that was that country. Alchemy, however, should be fine, as long as the maid stuck to the most basic parts of mixing, stewing, and drinking potions. It was no different from brewing alcohol, to be honest.

"I c-could arrange for that. J-just tell me when you would l-like to have your lesson." The mage was nearing her limit on keeping her cool, so she hoped that Siesta would leave it at that and leave. She didn´t, however, as she held up her right pinky.

"Is that a promise?"

"O-of course." She answered, extending her pinky finger, even though it made her want to blow up something for some reason. Who knew why, her mind was currently drawing a blank on every single front.

"Okay! I´ll be seeing you this evening, Miss Vallière." Siesta was about to finally head out, and she went back to finishing her meal, when a certain dish caught her attention. It reminded her of something that´d been bugging her for days now.

"H-hold on!" The maid stopped in her tracks with a gulp, hoping that she wasn´t in trouble for some reason. "There is something I wish to know. Did the chef begin using a different recipe for this soup?" Thank goodness. It was just a small inquiry.

"No, not to my knowledge. Why?"

"I don´t know, it´s just…like there is something missing…" How odd. Siesta ate that soup herself regularly, and for all she knew, it tasted like that ever since Marteau first conceived the recipe. Founder be merciful to anyone who ever deviated from it. He was extremely adamant about the way it was to be cooked; never had he even implied making changes to any of his dishes, and if he did, then there would be an uproar among the servants.

"I´ll ask Marteau for you. Is there anything else you wish to know?"

"No, no. You may leave, Siesta." Louise answered after a short pause.

"Alright." She said, closing the door on that final note, then headed back to the ballroom, where Mister Colbert was working hard to organize the ball. Everyone took their orders directly from him at the moment. Some might argue that it was because Lord Osmond put so much faith in his subordinate, but everyone that worked at the Academy for longer than a month knew. They knew it was because he was too lazy to take charge of organizing this sort of event on such short notice; unlike Mister Colbert, though, who seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.

" _Being under pressure enables us to find new solutions to known problems."_ One would sometimes hear when passing by his classes, and it seemed he put his hand where his mouth is and made good on his teachings. Regardless, Siesta found him standing on the stage, surrounded by a few of the bulkier commoners, which included a few guards, instructing them where the heavier furniture was to go. She approached him once he was done, and asked if there was anything left to do. "Ah, yes, Miss Siesta, excellent timing. I haven´t been able to find Chef Marteau anywhere, even though we need to prepare adequate nourishment for tonight. Do you have any idea as to his whereabouts?" She did, indeed. However, he made her promise to keep quiet about it, so she did just that, and instead took a load off the teacher´s shoulders.

"There is no need to worry. Marteau has already gotten the kitchen staff moving. He may not be there to supervise, but rest assured that there will be no shortage of food and drink. _Besides fruit, anyways…"_

"Excuse me, what was that about fruit?"

"Er, nothing, Mister Colbert. Regardless, I have nothing to do at the moment. If you could please give me my next assignment…"

"Actually, about that. I mean no offense, but most of the work that is left is not exactly suited to you, as it mostly involves heavy lifting. You are relieved of your duties until the ball begins." He answered as she glanced around the room. Sure enough, the tables and such were all set, with cutlery, porcelain dishes, and the obligatory vases on each table that spread the smell of flowers all the way into the hallway.

"B-but…is there really nothing I can do?" She asked, hoping that his age somehow muddled his memory and made him forget about some important issue she could help with.

"I fear not. Unless…has anyone helped Miss Vallière prepare? I´m sure it was difficult for her to get ready in time." She was right, but unfortunately, she´d been too diligent in her duties.

"Yes, sir. I did, just a minute ago. All that is left is her makeup, and she´ll be ready." He seemed to be caught off-guard by her dejected tone, and though he questioned why she felt in such a way about it, he had nothing to tell her but the truth.

"Ah, I see. In that case, there really is nothing you could do."

"Alright. I wish you good luck." She tried to hide her disappointment with little success. Colbert thanked her for her service and kind words, and dismissed her. Siesta left the ballroom, and thought what else she could possibly do to pass the time. Actually, recalling events earlier today, something popped into her mind. Yes, that´d work. After all, she wanted to have her lessons as soon as possible, and Miss Vallière oughta be done with her makeup by now. Having fetched the book she borrowed from the library, she stood in front of that wooden door once more.

"Come in." She heard the noble say through the door upon knocking, and she entered with no hesitation, before nearly bursting out laughing. Louise was trying, and failing, to tie her hair into a more manageable style. Guessing that she´d never even attempted this sort of thing before, the maid offered her assistance, which the girl was happy to accept; though she was to prideful to show her relief. Siesta spent the next few minutes having to apologize as she combed the mage´s hair; it had become so tangled by her attempts to tie it up that the comb ripped out more than its fair share of pink strands.

"That´s why I had mine cut short, Miss Vallière. It saves you a lot of trouble, especially in the morning." She said after she´d straightened out Louise´s hair, who had tiny glimmers pooling on the edge of her eyes.

"Good for you." Was her pouty response as she wiped away the drops of water before they could ruin her makeup. Founder knows they´d turn to sludge before even reaching her cheek. For a while, the room was silent besides the sound of the comb running through her hair.

"You have beautiful hair, Miss Vallière." As Siesta saw the noble´s face in the mirror, she realized that she had let her thoughts slip through her mouth. She wasn´t sure whether she should´ve said it, as the reflection showed an embarrassed expression, yet with no blush in sight. It begged the question as to how much foundation the girl had actually put on.

"Thank you." Wow, that was quiet. She was unsure who was speaking, as it definitely couldn´t be Miss Vallière; whenever she opened her mouth, either eardrums burst or you walk away with a headache. But still, the voice matched. And it sounded so sweet, too, like strawberry cake. Smiling, the maid went back to work, happily humming a tune to herself as she went along. "Um, Siesta?" Before suddenly being interrupted right in her favourite part by the mage.

"Yes?" Being slightly miffed about it, she tried to speak as politely as she could. And seeing as Louise seemed to not notice at all, she could safely say she hid her emotions well.

"That song you´re humming…where did you learn it?" What an odd question. Did the girl enjoy the melody that much? Well, she was not one to deny someone else the joy of music.

"Oh, that? I learned it when I was a child, from a travelling storyteller. Why?"

"I-I think I heard Kamina hum the same song when h-h-he slept." She sounded like she was hiding something, but Siesta didn´t pay attention to it as something occurred to her; the story she heard from that man all those years ago was similar to the one Kamina told everyone from his life before the summoning. Was it coincidence? Regardless of whether it was or not, it´d best she told him about the storyteller. She wondered how he was doing, before shaking those thoughts out of her head. This was no time to think about someone whom she hadn´t seen in years, there was a ball coming up!

"Miss Vallière, I think it´s best we put it the subject aside for now. After all, you wanted your hair done, right?" Somehow, that seemed to shake the noble from her uneasy state.

"Yes. Yes, I did." She answered, before giving a rough description of how it should look, and the maid carried out her order as well as she could. Having short hair gave her less opportunity to get good at it, sure, but she´d seen some of her friends do theirs in the morning. She should be able to create something semi-fitting to the description she was given. A few minutes later, she stated that she was finished. Louise checked her handiwork in the mirror, turning her head every few seconds. She waited for the verdict with bated breath.

"W-what do you think?" Were her ears deceiving her? She asked the girl to repeat herself.

"I-I asked what you think about it." Just what on earth was going on here? Her opinion? Since when did the opinion of a lowly commoner matter? She gave her answer nevertheless.

"I think it suits you wonderfully, Miss Vallière."

"You really think so?" The noble asked again, playing with part of her hair nervously.

"Yes. I´m sure Kamina would say the same thing." Siesta wasn´t sure why she said that, but apparently, she hit a nerve.

"W-why are you b-bringing up that stupid dog?!"

"I just stated my thoughts, as you wished. Besides, I would like for you to fulfil your promise." She said putting the comb in its place on the table. Her gaze went over to the mirror, where an expression of confusion greeted her.

"Promise?" A refresher course was apparently needed.

"Alchemy. You promised to teach me Alchemy." The reflection was shocked.

"At this time?!" As well as a justification.

"The ball won´t start for a while." She pulled the book from her apron. "Besides, it wouldn´t be that hard to give me a crash course, would it?" Seeing as Louise had nothing else to do except being insecure about her appearance for the next thirty minutes, her better judgement told her to just do it. A Vallière wasn´t one to go back on her word.

"Alright." She responded, taking the book from the maid, and rapidly flipping past the prelude, which made up at least a few dozen pages. They mostly detailed irrelevant information about how wondrous the Founder´s gift of *insert subject of book here* was, as was mandatory for any book. The church was always watching. Ah, there we go. ´ _The basics of alchemy´_ was written at the top of the page, and though she knew every word by heart, she skimmed it nevertheless. You can never be too diligent. She opened her mouth, but the words refused to exit as she realized how little of an idea she had about teaching. Most of the lingo she wanted to use would be completely unfamiliar to a commoner.

For instance, she had little doubt that Siesta knew what a _Dekuranha Kokiri_ was: an overgrown flower that bit anyone that came too close, and tended to live inside giant hollowed trees, alongside giant spiders. However, their flexible stem became extremely hard upon being plucked, as well as their ´head´, and both of them contained various intriguing substances. Deku Sticks and Deku Nuts were the names of these products, though the nuts were by far the more valuable. One of them could cause a flash of light when put under pressure and, when used correctly, would make for a wonderful lamp, even if it was rather expensive due to the rarity of the plant; it only grew in a single forest in Germania. If she remembered correctly, though, the chandeliers in the dining room as well as the ballroom shone so brightly because of exactly those lamps.

But to a noble, most of that was common knowledge, built from the day they learned to read. She´d have to start at the very beginning, and that would require years of education. There was only one conceivable solution to this that she could think of. "I´m sorry, but you´ll have to limit yourself to a single potion. We simply don´t have the time." Apparently, Siesta was not exactly perturbed by her proposition. She smiled, and stated the recipe she sought. It was probably one of the easiest ones in the book, and Louise sighed internally as the whole issue became far more manageable.

"That, I can do." She said as her fingers flipped to the corresponding page. If she recalled correctly, a flask of the potion required a piece of oaken bark, smashed to crumbs, seasoned with a bit of earth, stewing for an hour in hot water before the addition of a strand of human hair. And finally, to top it all off, a few drops of cow´s milk. Optimally, all of it should be fresh (though it was debatable how ´fresh´ the earth could be). And low and behold, her memory was spot on. After detailing everything to the maid, she closed the book, and gave it back. Siesta asked a few questions, mainly about the earth, but she cleared up most of them with the answer that any kind of earth was suitable. Then, as the maid asked a few more questions about the milk, just to satisfy her curiosity, but another problem presented itself, when Louise was about to answer, in the form of a knock at the door.

"Who is it?"

"It´s me, Vallière." Speaking of cows, why on Halkegenia was Zerbst at her door? "The guests of honour are the ones to make the ball begin with their entrance, and it´s almost time."

"Wait. I have to share the honour with _you_?" Louise wasn´t exactly thrilled about the prospect. After all, Zerbst contributed about as much to the fight as Guiche did to the familiar exhibition, or to anything, really. Besides, this might just be enough for her mother to step in here; sharing glory with the Zerbst household was probably the second worst thing that could happen to their proud family. Right after befriending or wanting to marry a Zerbst. Whoever so much as implied that kind of nonsense would immediately be ousted from the family, by means of marriage. It was quite effective.

"Because I´m the one who held off Fouquet long enough for my darling to take control of the Bust of Destruction, obviously." An odd sound later, she continued. "Oh, and Tabitha was there too." Somehow, she could picture the small girl hitting her tanned friend on the head with her staff in order to make her tack on that last bit.

"…Lagann. Its name is Lagann, Zerbst." She didn´t even want to point out that the only reason the germanian survived long enough to toss fire at the thief in the first place was due to Tabitha and Kamina´s actions. And though she was pained to admit it, she did not help much during the battle either. Only a single (failed) fireball was cast before she was restrained. But that did not stop her from at least rubbing it in her nemesis´ face that she was still closer to her partner than her. Zerbst couldn´t even name his brother´s, and by extension his, weapon.

"Whatever. It doesn´t change that we should get going." Apparently, she wasn´t that affected by it though, and retorted with a pretty much irrefutable argument which Louise had to agree to, sadly enough. However, she did slip Siesta the number of a page on which a certain recipe was contained, one she always dreamt of letting the germanian drink, perhaps by means of spiking a glass of wine. Its effect was simple: a devastating headache, combined with a few cases of vomiting over the course of a week or two. For all she´d know, she must have forgotten to cast the protection spell before fornicating. Of course, letting the maid know the page wouldn´t do much; she can´t brew something when she can´t read the recipe, a fact that Louise realized as she saw the nervous smile opening the door. That was rather embarrassing to forget. Well, there was always the next lesson.

The four of them walked in silence, with Siesta in the front, dealing with any doors they came across. Eventually, as they neared the ballroom, the silent air became filled with chatters droning through the walls. Everyone was waiting for them. It made Louise feel ever so slightly cold. Maybe it was just the wind, or the crystals on her dress were still cooler than they should be. Regardless, the quartet arrived at the door for the guests of honour, where Lord Osmond was waiting for them, petting his familiar. With a bow, Siesta took her leave, presumably heading for the main entrance.

"Right on time." He told them, before tapping his staff against the wall next to him. Suddenly, the lights beneath the door became faint, and the distant echoes of footsteps reached their ears. Louise knew that sound. It was the one of a very specific pair of shoes, one the owner kept complaining about. And sure enough, as the footsteps stopped, the voice of the princess was heard. She gave a short speech about the defeat of the nefarious thief, and how the noble people who put an end to Fouquet were to be honoured with this event. She went on to call them in, one by one, as the light shone through the door at full force again. First, Lord Osmond opened the door for Zerbst, who was met with applause as she descended the stairs to the dance floor, followed by the spotlight, throwing kisses into the crowd. Next was Tabitha, whom they greeted with the same gesture, although her response, contrasting her friend, was to basically ignore them, her nose in a book, as usual.

Finally, it was Louise´s turn. The elderly man gave her a reassuring smile and opened the door for her. There was no reaction to her putting a foot on the step. In fact, there was complete silence. No claps, no anything. Just those stares. She felt a shiver coming on as she descended another step, with as stoic a face as she could muster. Her body felt tense enough to burst at any second.

The moment when it became too much for her to bear taking another step, a single, loud clap echoed through the room. Everyone turned toward the one behind it, with wide eyes as the culprit began falling into loud applause. Louise was just as shocked, but as she was in the centre of attention, she kept it to herself, and gave a barely noticeable, but grateful nod to the culprit, who had a smile on her face as her friend put aside her book to clap as well. The servants chimed in now that a noble had essentially given them permission to, and given a few more seconds, she was met with massive applause.

And though her expression didn´t change, she began to notice something. The faces in the audience were not hostile or anything, at least not on the male side. The boys actually looked…taken by her? The girls, discounting Zerbst and Tabitha, had the most jealous look on their faces. Dazed, she did her best to keep up her stoicism as she strode along the path everyone cleared for her. Requests for a dance reached her ears, but she declined absent-mindedly. This was such a far cry from the way she´d been treated for the last year. Eventually, she did reach the end of the human corridor, the buffet, where the other two were already waiting, each a glass of wine in hand.

Louise took one from the table, and had a sip whilst Henrietta diverted attention from her, thankfully. She couldn´t hear what it was her friend was saying, but it was probably some more formal talk, introducing the band, thanking the headmaster for organizing this so quickly, and so on and so forth. Though she was uncertain whether Lord Osmond actually was responsible for this huge feat; he seemed to be in too good a shape for that. Oh well, it was probably just her imagination.

Meanwhile, as a servant passed through a hallway close to Colbert´s office, they nearly jumped out of their skin when loud snoring began echoing off the walls.

As she had another sip of wine, she noted just how good it tasted, and swivelled the glass around, observing the pleasing to watch movements of the drink. The reflection she saw made her question whether she was awake, however. She blinked once, twice, three times to make sure, and no, her eyes were functioning properly. Wondering why it looked so odd, she turned to look at the buffet. Usually, the meals were laid out in a very strict order. A circle of vegetable and fruity dishes, and in the middle was the meat; cheese and bread were to be separated from the circle, as those were special dishes. But here, everything was thrown onto the table randomly – she´d never seen such lack of order in anything the chef supervised yet, or at least, she didn´t see the pattern.

Which begged the question, was the chef actually in charge of the buffet?

Pondering the question, she tried to grease her brain with some fine wine. It didn´t help much. Soon, she gave up on it and took to looking at the stage, where the princess was just walking off, her speech done. The curtain began to move aside, and Louise prepared for the band to play her friend´s favourite song first. That´s how it went at every event Henrietta attended, she was royalty after all. She wondered whether the vocalist would be any good. Last time, her friend was specifically annoyed about the horribly emotionless singer. It ruined the whole song, and most of the evening for her, even if the violin was the main focus of the piece.

She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the music over all the whispers that bogged down the air. The sound of the moving cloth ceased, and the whispers only got louder as the crowd got a good look at the musicians. She heard a gasp close by, and she assumed that Zerbst, too, was shocked at what she saw. Whatever. The cow probably just found someone to fornicate with later. She wouldn´t be disturbed in listening to the music. The distant counting of "One, two, one two three four" heralded the imminent start. To her surprise, she heard the deep notes of a piano, followed by a trumpet, playing a far quicker and jovial tone than expected. Was this a different interpretation of Henrietta´s favourite? Because there was no trumpets involved in it, only strings, a piano, and a one-man choir.

" **We are so glad to see so many of you lovely people here tonight."**

How odd. That sounded like that disgusting piece of scrap, but how would it manage to make its voice so loud?

" **We would especially like to thank the visitors from the capital, who have chosen to join us in the Academy´s ballroom at this time."**

She was absolutely certain about it now. The voice belonged to that stupid sword.

" **We do sincerely hope you all enjoy the show, and remember, people, that no matter who you are and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there are some things that make us all the same. You. Me. Them. Everybody. Everybody."**

Her eyes shot open, only to be greeted by an absurd sight. There were four people, including Derflinger, on stage, three of them performing with an instrument. The sword was leaning against the back of a chair, with a flower strapped to its hilt, alongside a familiar pendant. The flower appeared similar to Guiche´s wand; it most likely was just that, and had the voice amplification spell cast on it.

The chef was playing the trumpet, which she didn´t even know he could do, and quite well, if she did say so herself. He wasn´t actually wearing his chef´s outfit, but had instead gotten his hands on a servant´s uniform, which certainly gave him a much more formal look with the white shirt and black tie. Though where he got a uniform that fit him was a mystery; he was much bigger than any other servant in the Academy. Perhaps he used to wear it when he first got the job here.

Next to him, Guiche was giving a nice performance on his guitar; everybody was aware that he tried to serenade girls at times, but she never would´ve expected him to be able to play it at such a rapid pace. He, too, had had a change of outfit. His unbuttoned shirt had been replaced with a light brown jacket, accompanied by a yellow scarf, which was tied up neatly using a rose. His black cape fluttered slightly in the breeze coming from the balcony, giving him a far more knightly look than she was used to.

Behind the two of them, a ginormous piano was set up. And who else would be sitting in front of it but Tabitha with a completely neutral expression. This might just be the first time anyone saw her play an instrument; or without a book in sight, for that matter. She was, obviously, wearing the same thing she had when Louise saw her in the hallway. A very basic blue dress, without sleeves or gloves of any kind; and with no restrictions to her hands, she could let her fingers dance across the keyboard freely, like a bird would through the sky. There was the small question in her mind as to when and how she actually snuck on-stage, but it was silenced by the amazing skill on display here.

But the thing to round up this ridiculousness, the cherry on top of this ice cream void, the thing that made this scene believable, was Kamina, wearing his red cape over the jacket, with a pink flower stuck to his chest, holding Tabitha´s staff. It, too, likely had the voice amplification spell cast on it. His glasses shone in the spotlight as he opened his mouth and began to sing.

 _Everybody needs somebody_

 _Everybody needs somebody to love_

He high-fived Guiche in passing and started tapping his feet, before continuing his singing, as Derf began chiming in with a deep, rumbling voice.

 _Someone to love_

 **Someone to love**

 _Sweetheart to miss_

 **Sweetheart to miss**

 _Sugar to kiss_

 **Sugar to kiss**

 _I need you, you, you_

 **I need you, you, you**

With every ´you´, he pointed at random people in the audience, no matter if upper or lower class.

 _I need you, you, you_

 **I need you, you, you**

 _I need you, you, you_

 **I need you, you, you**

 _In the mornin´!_

 **You, you, you**

 _When my soul´s on fire!_

 _Sometimes I feel_

 _I feel a little sad inside_

 _When my baby mistreats me, I never never never find a place to hide,_

 _I need you!_

The vocals ceased for a few seconds, during which he, and a few servants in the crowd, began clapping their hands to the rhythm, cheering included. It took little less than a blink of an eye to animate the entire ballroom into clapping their hands and whistling. In her peripherals, Louise spied the headmaster improvising a dance in the corner, though the only reason she could distinguish it from a heart attack was his merry smile. Grinning, Kamina stopped clapping and sang into the staff again, a hand on Derf´s handle, giving him the closest thing to dancing he could get.

 _Sometimes I feel_

 _I feel a little sad inside_

 _When my baby mistreats me, I never never never find a place to hide,_

 _I need you, you, you!_

 _I need you, you, you!_

 _I need you, you, you!_

 _I need you, you, you!_

He didn´t point any fingers anymore, but the masses did, with every last ´you´. She even saw a tanned finger in the dark, bouncing toward the stage, and she swore to hear Zerbst also yell ´you´ every time he did. Soon, everyone copied the germanian, except the vocalists. Louise tried to take another sip from her drink, but nearly dropped it; she didn´t even notice herself tapping to the rhythm. Derf had been quiet for some time, and now her partner held him up to the sky, and he finally spoke again.

 **You know people, when you find that special somebody,**

 **You gotta hold that man, hold that woman!**

 **Love him, please him,**

 **Squeeze her, please her!**

 **Signify your feelings with every gentle caress!**

 **Because it´s so important to have that special somebody**

 **To hold,**

 **To kiss,**

 **To miss,**

 **To squeeze and please!**

The sword was placed in its chair, and went back to providing the background singing. Meanwhile, Kamina´s singing became much rougher as he seemingly strained his voice to reach the higher notes.

 _Everybody needs somebody_

 _Everybody needs somebody to love_

 **Everybody**

 _Someone to love_

 **Needs somebody**

 _Sweetheart to miss_

 **Everybody**

 _Sugar to kiss_

 **Needs somebody**

He pointed once more at random people, though he paused for a split second when it fell on Zerbst. But he immediately continued on as if nothing had happened, making her think she imagined it. Besides, she was enjoying his song way too much. Though she´d only admit it over her dead body. …maybe. If he promised not to laugh at her.

 _I need you, you, you_

 **I need you, you, you**

 _I need you, you, you_

 **I need you, you, you**

 _I need you, you, you_

 **I need you, you, you**

 _In the mornin´!_

 _When my soul´s on fire!_

 _When there ain't no one around_

 _I need you!_

The music came to a bombastic finish as all those that were standing fell to their knees, and ended it with one last pointer, seemingly at random people, except for one. She looked to the right, to the left, behind and in front of her, even above and beneath her, and, with the reality slowly sinking in, she lifted a finger to point at herself, with a shocked and confused expression. He was rather far away, but she got the distinct feeling that he had nodded. The light then went out on stage, and the ballroom erupted into applause, the demands for an encore increasing in volume with every second that passed. Eventually, the band caved in – actually, they seemed rather happy to continue, so ´caved in´ might be the wrong expression. Louise, feeling a bit weird, decided to get some air.

Meanwhile, the princess was looking for her friend, and spotted her going to the balcony. As she went to follow, a hand was placed on her shoulder. "Your Majesty." It was Agnès. "Please stay where I can see you. I almost had a heart attack when you disappeared into the crowd and I couldn´t find you." Oops. Perhaps she should apologize for that.

"I´m sorry, Agnès, but I need to go. Louise is alone right now, so I´ll go ahead and ask for her help with my…indiscretion." The blonde seemed a bit uneasy at her willingness to speak of it in such a time and place, but trusted her judgement. Of course, there was a catch.

"Very well. And I´ll feel free to stand guard." Honestly, with what happened today, Henrietta couldn´t fault her for being even more cautious than usual; though the armed guard being mixed in with the people here might be a bit excessive. Seeing the worry in her friend´s eyes earlier had all but forced her to give in to her demands; and now, it was the same. She sighed.

"Thank you." Although, there was a way for her to get back at Agnès, she now recalled. "By the way…"

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Her victim seemed to have no clue. With a smile of an angel, she held out a hand. The guard´s puzzled expression was met with a simple declaration.

"You owe me five écus." She froze for a second, before letting out a chuckle and reaching into her coat´s pocket.

"Fine. I guess I´ll let you have this one. He wasn´t too shabby." Having found an appropriate coin, she put it in her liege´s hand. "This is coming straight from my beer fund; I´ll be back for it."

"Oh, I do hope so. After all, I´m saving up for a new pair of shoes, and your foolishness in betting against me is quite a steady income." The two shared a laugh and headed for the balcony, where Louise was leaning on the railing, staring up at the two moons. What was going on with her? Ever since Kamina had said _"I need you!"_ and pointed at her, her heart was pounding with intensity she´d never felt before. And the cool air of the night did nothing to stop it. In fact, it only seemed to get worse the more she thought about it. Maybe it was the wine. But no one else seemed to be sharing her plight. Eliminating the drink as a suspect from her mental list, she drank the last bit of it, before going back to mulling over it.

"Good evening." She was jolted out of it by the princess´ face suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Her yelp was thankfully quiet enough to be silenced by the music inside, but Henrietta´s mirth over her misfortune was obvious. She took a second or two to recover with a fake cough here and there, and asked what she was doing out here. Her answer was to lean on the stone railing, staring up at the moon, like Louise was just a moment ago. With a horrible feeling in her gut, she finally spoke. "Louise, I have a favour to ask of you."

 **Pls don´t copyrightstrike this, Gods of Music. I needed this.**

 **Remember how I said "And now for something completely different?" Yeah, I´m making good on that with Siesta. I´ll leave it at that, and hope you enjoyed the show. Review if you please, they fuel my addiction, and thus are quite the excellent motivator to write. Anyways, I´ll be seeing you next time. Bye!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Is there even a point to me greeting you at this point? You know the gist of it, I´ll come up with some way to justify addressing the reviews, then the story begins. Actually, there is a point. It´s me wanting to waste your time so I can have a sandwich before telling you the story. Where was I? Ah yes, the reviews.**

 **Gamma Cavy: No need to apologize, I´m happy you took some more time to review again. Anyways, you can bet that those hints are there for a reason. Siesta´s desire to learn Alchemy, Marteau voluntarily standing on the same stage as Guiche, Osmond´s saviour, Kamina telling Louise he needs her, Henrietta´s favour (the circumstances of which you already know cos you´re on this site), all of it will come together at some point. ´At some point´ being in the near future of this story´s timezone.**

 **Speaking of which, I have an announcement at the end of the chapter. And since I know how much you love to hear me ramble, I know you´re itching to get right to it! But obviously, there is this awful thing called ´chapter´ standing between you and my beautiful rant. *sigh* Let´s get this over with quickly.**

„So, what do you say, Louise?" The princess asked her friend. She knew her request was absolutely unreasonable; it was a matter of life and death, and she was trying to get her best friend to do the job. Yet, Louise was the only one besides Agnès she would consider trusting with this, and her guard was adamant about not leaving her side, ever. That only left the noble, who was still trying to make sense of her demand; or rather, the reason behind it. In a way, Henrietta hoped she´d decline. Her only just receiving the praise and admiration deserving of her efforts, made her feel horrible for immediately tearing her away from it.

"I´ll do it." Now it was her turn to be taken aback. There was no hesitation to be found in the Vallière´s tone. It made her feel even worse as she saw the smile meant to calm her. "If it´s for you, I´ll do anything." She lowered her gaze, knowing not to take those words at face value. Louise didn´t mean she´d do anything for her, Henrietta; no, she´d do anything for her, the princess of Tristain. As was to be expected by a prestigious family like the Vallière, the wellbeing of the country was more important than even their own lives. Pulling two differently coloured letters from her cape with a heavy heart, she briefed Louise on her mission.

"When you find Prince Wales, hand him the purple letter. He´ll know what to do. You will head out in two days, with one of our finest as an escort. The details of where and when you´ll meet up are in the white envelope. I´m sure you´ll be happy to meet again." It´d be a wonderful surprise, of that she was sure. But her worry denied her enjoying even that tiny joy. "Please, _please_ promise me that you´ll be careful." She said, clasping her hands between her own, staring into Louise´s red eyes with a begging look.

"I promise. On the Vallière name, I swear to fulfil my duty and return safely." Well, at least she got her promise out of her, even if it was not from the person she wanted it from. Sighing, she let go of Louise´s hands. It was all in the hands of the Founder now. To forget this whole thing for now, she decided to satisfy her own curiosity about a different subject.

"Say, what was it that you were thinking about earlier?" And all of a sudden, that confident tone all but vanished.

"Uh, well, y-you see, Your Majesty, the song, it was –" Before she could continue on with her hesitancy, Henrietta cut in. She had a very good guess as to what was plaguing her friend at the moment.

"I have never seen an audience react that way to a performance. It was truly wonderful to see everyone having so much fun. Although, I wonder why Sir Kamina pointed at you at his last _"I need you"_?" She said, with a faux innocent tone and a finger on her chin. It was incredible just how effective it was at completely shutting down Louise´s mind. She almost felt bad about it, but it was drowned in her amusement. "You two wouldn´t happen to be in –"

"I can assure you, Your Majesty, the two of them are not lovers." The two jumped at hearing an unexpected voice, and turned to face the newcomer. He kneeled to conceal his chuckling at their initial scare. "I am deeply sorry for my sudden intrusion, but I heard a mistake that needed correcting; Sir Kamina is already in a relationship."

"There is no need to apologize, Sir…excuse me, I seem to have forgotten your name." She answered, holding out a hand. Guiche gave her a kiss on the hand, as was custom, before standing up to face the ladies.

"Guiche de Gramont, at your service, madam."

"I am honoured to make your acquaintance, Sir Gramont. But why is it that you grace the two of us with your presence?"

"With all due respect, it is you who is gracing the school with your presence, Your Majesty. The honour is all mine. As for my reason for appearing before you, well, I would like to humbly offer my apologies for the…lacking display at the Familiar´s exhibition." He said, bowing, though his second apology, too, was unnecessary.

"I understand. After all, all your time was spent on practicing with Sir Kamina, was it not?" It appeared as if the two were privy to some information that Louise wasn´t. She was quick to ask for it.

"Pardon, but would you two mind filling me in?"

"Ah, yes, Miss Vallière. It was to be a surprise for you, so you obviously would be out of the loop. The song we performed earlier was meant for the Familiar´s exhibition. So once it was interrupted by that dastardly criminal, we thought that all our efforts were for naught."

"However, Sir Kamina used two of his requests to make it happen nevertheless. First, he asked for the ball. Then, he demanded to be allowed to present his show before the hired band was to play. And thus, everyone got to perform their act in the end." Louise finally understood, so she nodded to confirm, but there was something else bugging her.

"All this is highly interesting, but that surely can´t be the only reason you came here, right?" A noble would not just randomly interject into a private conversation of royalty without a very good reason; and his apology did not satisfy that criterion.

"Indeed, Miss Vallière. There was my personal issue to attend to, but I was, in fact, sent to fetch you." Well, that was certainly unexpected.

"M-me?"

"Yes, Sir Kamina wishes to speak with you. Allow me to show you the way." As was that. But she wanted to speak with him regardless, so this was rather convenient.

"Very well." She then bowed to Henrietta. "Have a nice evening, Your Majesty."

"You too, Miss Vallière." The two then left the princess on the balcony, and basically traded places with Agnès, who appeared next to her liege immediately after they went out of earshot to inform her that Guiche had only arrived when they began speaking about Louise´s crush. Of course, that made Henrietta hit her guard with a laugh. "Agnès, come on. She has a fiancé."

"Sure. And next you´ll tell me she´s a Void mage." She retorted, and the two began a round of playful bickering, all at the expense of the poor girl that had just left. Speaking of, Louise had decided to finally ask what happened. Guiche had undergone some serious change since his fight with Kamina. First, he asked for her forgiveness for the entire first year and offered compensation, and now here he was, acting the way a son of Tristain´s First General should. It was mainly his aura; it was one befitting of a knight, if she were to describe it.

"Say, Sir Gramont, I´ve been wondering. Why did you help Sir Kamina?"

"Did I not say that I would fulfil any request given to me?"

"Ah, so this is how you made it up to me? And here I was hoping to get a refund on that piece of scrap from you."

"Well, I´m certain this is preferable to you than 65 écus, is it not?" He responded, chuckling. She had been hesitant to ask up until now, but her curiosity finally overwhelmed her, so Louise finally voiced a thought she´d been burning to ask him about ever since he interrupted her conversation with the princess. It might be slightly intrusive, but she wanted to know.

"Definitely. Though I am curious. You have changed a lot since your battle with Sir Kamina." Guiche froze for a second, and lowered his gaze. Shaking with every step, he gave his answer.

"One could say that. I guess getting a few bones broken was enough for me to finally take a long, hard look at myself, and realize what a joke my self is. I believed myself to be greater than I was because others built me up. I loved a girl because others thought I should marry her. I believed in ideals that weren´t my own. My entire life, I was no more a ´person´ than my Valkyries." His nails dug into his palms as he went on. "After our fight, I felt like my world had completely crumbled. Everything I thought to know was a farce." Then he straightened himself, as if by magic. "But it didn´t matter to me anymore. Because I now have the opportunity to finally become a man I can be proud of. That, Miss Vallière, is why I shall be forever indebted to you, and to Sir Kamina."

"Then I suggest you repay it by introducing me to him. I´m eager to meet this man." She said, and, acknowledging it in passing, he bowed to her, stating that Kamina was just ahead. He left, telling her that she´d find him easily enough. Wondering why, Louise turned her head to face the buffet. Hm, yes, indeed, that was a bowl of soup. Perhaps some guy she´d not rejected an offer of a dance with yet.

"Want some? Had Marteau make it just for you." She was right. But at the same time, the question as to whether this man was even capable of dancing shot through her head. Regardless, she took the bowl from him and sat down at his table. Having a spoonful, she noted how it was still a bit off.

"Well, Sir Kamina, I heard you called for me."

"You can drop the ´Sir´. The music is loud enough." He told her, having a swig from his beer. Seeing as he wouldn´t get to the point, Louise decided to take that upon herself, after discreetly signalling a servant to bring her another glass of wine.

"Since when could you sing that well?" She asked as he lowered his drink to the table, and he was happy to go on that tangent with his typical fervour.

"Remember the stories about the chieftain? Well, someone had to keep the people in that village happy when the going got rough, so there was a party every now and again. Though it is a bummer that I didn´t bring some of the instruments with me. You don´t know how much of a difference they make until they´re gone." He said seeming somewhat melancholic, and she nodded at the servant before drinking some of her wine. Maybe she should try and cheer him up, just this once.

"Do they now? You seemed to be doing just fine up there, with or without your ´bass guitars´, as you called them." First, he was surprised that she even remembered the rather insignificant detail. It quickly passed, however, and he thought to himself that it should be expected from her, it was Louise after all. She probably knew the whole library by heart, memorizing a little story would be nothing to her. Which reminded him, he hadn´t gone to that place for a while, he should get on that, or he´d be stuck here forever.

"So you liked it?" He asked, finally getting to the reason he´d called her in the first place. The song´s finish shot through her mind, but the rather dim lighting due to the spotlight being on the stage, as well as the gratuitous amount of foundation she was wearing saved her from any shame.

"Yes, it was most enjoyable. Placing my trust in you might not have been foolish after all." She mostly added on the last part due to her experience of speaking with a formal tone around Kamina; if her memory served her well, that very same day, she´d gone through a few agonizing moments of teasing when he and Zerbst ganged up on her. Hopefully this wouldn´t become a trend.

"Heh. Of course. Just who the hell do you think I am?" This, on the other hand, should definitely become a habit of his. It was like painting a huge red target on his face.

"A stupid dog, naturally."

"…could you at least be creative with your insults?" Oh. Well, looks like the trend died before it began. She recovered, and changed the subject to another problem she´d been wondering about.

"A-anyways, now that all has been said and done…how were the rehearsals? I couldn´t have been easy to teach them a song from memory alone."

"Well…"

" _I made myself absolutely clear last time, didn´t I?! There is no way that we will ever forgive these snotty brats! Kiss my arse if you think I´ll work with him!" Suffice to say, the first time Marteau was introduced to the idea of performing with Guiche, he was not all too happy about it. He went on a long rant about all the times he´d disrespected his friends, and how it was expected of them to simply accept it because his father happened to have the name to excuse it all. "With every slight against us, every time you turned your nose up at us, we felt robbed of our dignity. But you didn´t care. You never thought to thank us for our work, for taking care of all the shit you don´t want to. So tell me, brat, why I should be willing to overlook all that and throw away my pride again for the_ privilege _of performing at your side."_

 _Kamina stayed silent through all of it, standing next to Tabitha, who was reading a book, apparently unperturbed by the incredible racket. Good thing they were in his room, which was a fair distance away from any students, otherwise this might get them in trouble, similar to Guiche right now, who was legitimately shivering at the man´s outburst. Eventually, he decided to do the one thing he could think of. He kneeled._

" _Shiver me damn timbers, what are you doing?" The chef exclaimed, before the noble, still shaking, began to speak with a timid voice._

" _I…I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart. I would say that at the time, I didn´t know any better…but I´m done making excuses. What I did was, and still is inexcusable. I see that now, after Sir Kamina opened my eyes. And to repay that debt, I will make sure his show is a success, no matter what. For that goal, I need your help, Chef Marteau. I beg of you. I will try to atone for my misconduct, but right now, I –"_

" _Quiet." He seized up, and stayed still for what felt like an eternity. The air grew thicker with each thumping step Marteau took toward him; he felt like the villain in an opera, where the hero was about to strike him down to the pounding of drums. His heart beat harder and harder with every thump, until the man was stood right in front of him, and the room was silent. He didn´t dare looking up. The only thing audible to him was the pounding of his heart, which felt like it was about to jump out of his chest at any second. "Don´t apologize to me, boy. Apologize to those you´ve wronged."_

 _The sound of paper ripping was followed by a page being held in his face. Briefly glancing over it, he realized just what this was. A list. But not just any list; on it was the name of each commoner in the Academy he ever insulted, slapped, or forced into anything they didn´t want. It was a receipt, the comeuppance for all his past misdeeds._

" _H-how…?"_

" _Every time you nobles took our pride from us, I wrote down in this book. You want to atone? Go ahead. I´ll be watching, so you better not skip out on any of these. I´ll consider forgiving you then, boy." He said, walking over to his satchel he´d left at the door. Guiche stood up, holding the list to his chest, and with tears pooling in his eyes, let his emotions do the talking._

" _Th-thank you!" The chef simply took out his trumpet, and gave it a short pat to clear off the dust._

" _Thank me when you´ve finished walking the plank to the other side." He answered, before nodding at Kamina, who then began to teach the three of them the song his father taught him back when he was young. It took a day for them to get down the basic gist of it, except Tabitha, who´d mastered her part in their first rehearsal in a secluded part of the school. When she asked what else to do, the leader had to admit she was too good at this for her own good. Once she heard that she had nothing else to do, she left, but not without squeezing the oath out of him that after this, he would finally tell her that story._

" _I should probably get on that."_ He thought to himself as he continued telling Louise the journey of getting this ragtag bunch of people to coordinate. Whilst the first hurdle was dealt with, there were still a few instances of tension between Marteau and Guiche. When the teen had made up for a few points on the list, getting him a bit more accustomed to the way the commoners wished to be addressed, he inevitably saw an insult to his pride written on it. He immediately voiced it to the chef when they met at their next rehearsal.

" _Say, Marteau. Is there a reason why ´had to suffer through poetry´ is listed under Beth´s name?" The chef was all too happy to answer as he put his satchel aside for a moment._

" _Have you ever taken a second to imagine what it must feel like to a girl to have a dull poem declaring your love meant for another sung in front of her? Of course she´d feel awkward, boy!" The second half of his lecture was ignored in favour of addressing the elephant in the room taking a big fat dump on Guiche´s prided skill._

" _D-dull?! My poems?!" Though his outburst did little to affect Marteau, who just crossed his arms and continued on with the same tone, adding some more salt to the wound while he was at it._

" _Yes, dull. From what she told me, there was zero creativity in it. I´m earth, you´re water, blablabla, I love you, blablabla, I´d die for you, blablabla. I shit better poems than that!"_

" _Then go ahead and do it, then!" Guiche yelled like a child, redder than he´d ever been in his life. The commoner´s tone didn´t change as he presented his own attempt at poetry._

" _I carry the seeds of love in my heart of stone, but only if you water them can they bloom. There. The language may not be as flowery as you´d like, but at least the content is."_

" _And just how is it different from what I wrote?" The noble was far less sure of himself as he asked that question; he knew it was much better than the poem the list referred to, but he didn´t know why._

" _In poetry, it´s all about painting an image with your emotions; that is called creativity. You didn´t show us anything with your sad attempt at poetry. Instead, you just stated what you feel in a drawn out shit-show. My single, non-rhyming sentence was more poetic than your minute long essay."_

" _B-but don´t poems need to rhyme and have fourteen verses…?" He´d been taught to write them that way since he could pick up a quill; but now that the chef so openly ripped it to shreds, seeds of doubt took root. And boy, was Marteau eager to water them._

" _That´s a restriction you placed on yourself. And sure, Mister Colbert likes to say that necessity breeds creativity, but if those restriction don´t make those creative juices flow, then why bother? To hell with them, I say!" Though the water he chose to use had some pretty hefty fertilizer in it. Perhaps strong enough to kill off those seeds entirely._

" _T-to hell?! That format is widely accepted to be_ the _way of writing poems, and you expect me to just abandon it on a whim?!"_

" _It´s your choice whether you do or not. But if you don´t try, you won´t grow as a poet, or bard, whatever you want to call it." As any good gardener, he stepped back and let them absorb everything._

"…"

" _Come on, then. I´m sure Kamina´s tired of waiting."_

" _Oh, I can wait." Came the reply from said man, who´d been standing at the opposite wall for a while now. Also, judging from how he held Derf in his sheath, the sword must´ve told him a few of his horrible jokes again. He seemed to have an endless supply of them. The two, ever sharp and sceptical, immediately exposed the true intentions behind Kamina´s willingness to take this eternal torture._

" _Because you get an extra plate of food for every minute we delay practice?" Guiche asked, and was immediately greeted by Kamina´s affirmation._

" _Bingo!"_

" _In that case, we should start quickly. Wouldn´t want to add another fruit incident to the pile when the princess arrives." The man wanted to protest, but was silenced by Marteau, who cut off the noble´s own hopes in return._

" _Har! That won´t get ya out of apologizing though, boy!"_

" _Drat. Anyways, why do you know about writing and poetry in the firsht plashe?"_

" _Shimple. I need another glash of beer."_

Wait. That made no sense, not grammatically, nor realistically. Louise had been absent-mindedly eating her meal as she listened to his story, but those last few sentences were so odd that she looked back up. And it was good she did, because Kamina, having finished a couple more jugs of beer over the last few minutes, had a flushed face, accompanied with a bad case of the hiccups and the slurs. Was…was he drunk?

"Sho anywaysh, after that, Marteau and Guiche made out, and I got the biggesht lunsh ever!" Yep, definitely. His partner sighed as she went to his side. Perhaps she´d be able to carry him back to his room and settle this affair without making a scene. Although him continuing to describe his ´feast´, which obviously didn´t happen, at a volume loud enough to wake up Brimir in his grave didn´t exactly help. Add to that the fact that when she tried to hoist his arm over her shoulder, her height came back to bite her, and this was set to ruin the evening.

Then, out of nowhere, a saving grace in the form of a piece of bread was stuffed into his mouth. Being gone off the far end by now, he couldn´t devour it as quickly as usual, so it was pretty effective at keeping him quiet. The noble thanked Siesta as they shared the load that he was and made off without spoiling the party. On the way, Louise found out why the maid had been able to react so quickly to Kamina´s drunkenness. It turned out that the commoners all knew about his low alcohol tolerance, hence why, when he ordered a few jugs of beer, she stayed close by and kept an eye on him.

The noble was slightly interested in knowing how the servants got this information, but as he stumbled, nearly making all three of them fall to the floor, she put the topic off for now. Instead, she asked him just how on Halkegenia he would get drunk from beer the same way she´d get drunk from champagne; there was a world of difference between the two! And while she didn´t expect a response, she did get one: "I´m not drunk, you´re drunk!" He had finished his snack and Louise had a slight suspicion as to the reason behind this after seeing the speed it disappeared with, even in his current state.

"Say, did you have lunch? Or dinner, for that matter?" Shouting, with a fist raised to the skies, he cursed the chef.

"Marteau, you bashtard! You were shupposhed to cook for me!"

She sighed. Figures. Siesta giggled awkwardly as he dropped his arm back on her shoulder, and they continued their march to his room. Their struggle was only made worse by his flailing accompanying the yelling. Against all odds, they eventually reached the room, and, after Louise gave the okay, dumped him on his bed. As in, the floor. His cursing ceased shortly after faceplanting into the hay, letting a wave of relief wash over the two as he finally fell asleep. For a minute, they rested, and had a small talk.

" _We should let him rest."_ They eventually agreed on, and left. As the two of them reached the courtyard, the noble swore to have heard an odd sound, but it was overshadowed by the sounds of the ball up above as well as Siesta running back to the party before the chef gave her an earful. Louise followed halfway across the grass, but then, she heard it again, clearly this time. A pained cry loudly cutting through all the noise, stopping her in her tracks. Turning on her heel, she dashed back toward the servant´s quarters, and down the hallway. She didn´t bother knocking on his door, and the sight was more heartbreaking than anything else she´d ever experienced.

Kamina was writhing on the floor, mumbling to himself in his sleep. The sound of her shoes didn´t wake him up, thankfully, and as she kneeled next to him, she went to shake him out of his torment. But her effort was undercut when his hand shot forward and pulled her into his embrace. She struggled at first, however, that, too, stopped shortly after by something dropping onto her cheek. His mumbles finally became intelligible enough between his sobs for her to hear them, and it made her heart nearly split in two.

" _Simon, Yoko…where are you guys…? Don´t leave me all alone…"_ She had no idea what to do. His grip on her was tight enough for her to feel his desperation brewing on the inside, and it was overwhelming her. It was a completely different kind to the one she´d felt earlier, but it was so similar all the same. The two of them shared the crippling tear that loneliness wrought; though for whom it was worse was hard to tell.  
He was ripped away from his friends and family into an unfamiliar world. Did he think that he was betraying them as he made new friends here?  
She had stood alone in this world she had her entire life to build those relationships; until he came along. Perhaps it was fate that brought them together.

There only was one thing to do. Founder damn social convention, she thought, as she nuzzled further into his arms, and draped one of her own around him. He had helped her up from the pit she dug herself into. Now, it was her turn to do the same. _"Don´t worry, Kamina. They´re still waiting for you, somewhere, and losing hope is the opposite of what they´d want from you."_ Her breath tickled his ear as she whispered, giving him a small case of the shivers, and his muscles relaxed. Him unwinding a bit allowed her to get more comfortable, and returning the favour in full. There was a certain lullaby her older sister used to sing her when she was sad. It was engraved into her mind like a carving into a tree´s bark. She might not remember the details, but the melody and the outline of the text was more than enough right now.

Over the course of the song, which she had to admit, was rather shakily sung, his sobs and tears started to subside. She didn´t let it detract from her concentration, though. This only meant that she had to continue, with all she had. Eventually, he began to sway to the rhythm, which did almost break her stoic recital. Almost. But with the unbreakable will of **Steel** , she persevered, for his sake. Nearing the end of the song, he began humming it alongside her quiet singing, but, unlike the other incidents, this was no disturbance. It was an aid, one she took full advantage of; her voice became less shaky, and for the final chorus, a thought manifested in her head.

" _You don´t need me. I need you."_

It was undercut by him opening his eyes. And apparently, he was still drunk.

"Man, your shinging is awful."

It took all her self-control to not blow him up.

"Pleashe don´t try that again, Shimon."

She wondered why he was calling her Simon, though. If anything, he should mix her up with Yoko, right?

"Say, why are you calling me Simon?"

"Wha? Of courshe you are Shimon! You don´t have any boob-"

Louise got the point. And Kamina got the stick.

 **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

 **I don´t know how to feel about this one. I originally wanted there to be a whole scene with Guiche and Henrietta teaching their commoner friends how to dance, but I couldn´t find a good place to slot it in. Maybe I´ll make a separate story devoted to those kinds of small events. Ah well, we´ll see. Regardless, I have to apologize in advance, because I´ll be working on an original novel for a few weeks, so there won´t be any updates for a while.**

 **So I´ll just throw a thought into the ring to bug you ladies and gentlemen enough to want to continue reading; essentially, this´ll be the Roundabout of this story.**

 **I have huge changes planned to the Tarbes arc, but not in its general structure, which you know and love/are completely bored of after 1000ish samey stories. There will still be Reconquista´s invasion, and most of the cast will be there to respond. Tristain´s army will be there to defend their country, and Wardes will still be a traitor. So, how will I manage to completely change the ramifications and conflicts presented, even with all the restrictions of the canon?**

 **Feel free to ruminate on that question until the next update. But for now, I hope you enjoyed, and I´ll be seeing you next time. Bye!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Why hello reader. I welcome you to a new chapter of „The one whose back would never break". I hope you enjoy your time here. Now then, allow me to answer the reviews, then we shall begin.**

… **who turned on the welcoming bot? Whatever, review answering time!**

 **19: You are indeed correct, you spelled something wrong. As in, "something". Sorry for the tease, I just had to. Unless you planned it and did it on purpose as a set-up for that joke. In which case, well played. Anyway, glad to hear that you have been enjoying the story. The relationship between these two idiots has not gone anywhere yet, so do not yet accept this as "good". There is loads more to come. Struggles with love, life, peril, and my sadistic mind awaits. Also, could you specify what exactly about the mansion arc you did not like? Feel free to DM me if you want, I am genuinely curious in what ways I may have failed, so I can avoid that stuff in the future, and, if possible, fix it. Well, with nothing more to say, nos vemos, amigo. I hope I google translated that right.** **No hablo español muy bien.**

 **Oh, but before we go on, I have a wonderful surprise for you guys? You ready for it? It's great, isn't it? You noticed, didn't you? This ' is so much better than ´. In my private project, I tried to find that key on my (slightly old) keyboard, a few keys were blank, so it took a while, but I did find it in the end. Meaning I´ve finally resolved all the visual issues with these kinds of sentences. You gotta admit, it looks better, doesn't it?**

 **And about that project, lost motivation after a writing the first few pages (20ish), so now I know if something is too grounded in reality, I can't be arsed to write it because I can't get creative with any weird shit. Like pink-haired lolis summoning crazy badasses to fall in lo- I mean, to bind as servants.**

 **I won't keep you any longer. Let's get this show on the road!** **God, this is so much nicer for my hands.**

"Hey Marteau, explain to me just why you're coming with us." Came from the mouth of Lagann, and the person in question sighed as he glanced at Siesta. He was still not used to seeing her out of her maid's uniform, albeit the simple red and brown clothing definitely suited her, he had to admit. If he were to ask for an image of a "girl living in a farming village", her look would probably be what he would give as an answer. It gave off that wonderful homely vibe.  
Although he was bugged out of his mind to not see the maid headpiece sitting on her scalp; his brain had probably grown so accustomed to seeing her with it that it just assumed it to be a part of her. She probably felt similar seeing him without his chef's hat and in his old crimson coat. Perhaps he should not have brought it along. Not that it would matter anyways, he thought as he addressed the red face looking down at him with its green eyes.

"It's a long story." The chef said from his seat on Golem's hand, obviously not wanting to answer that question. Unfortunately, Kamina was a bit too bored and annoyed to care.

"And we have a long way ahead of us." Was the answer, knowing that they'd barely made it halfway to the village in their time on the road, even at max speed. Which equated roughly to five-hundred "Louise pissy walks", give or take a few dozen. If the estimation of proportions was correct, anyways.

"Fair enough." The maid in the other hand was getting remarkably red upon hearing his answer, and he knew why. "So, Siesta sends an envelope to her family every month or so with most of her earnings and usually visits them on her days off. Pretty standard fare, to be honest. What is less standard was the fact that back in the day, when she was new around the Academy, she had a little crush on me." Her face was buried between her palms. But Kamina had been in quite a bad mood because of his hangover on top of the lack of sleep, so he either didn't notice that or pretended not to.

"Talk about being blunt."

"You asked for it. Anyways, so one day, I happened to catch a glimpse of one of her parents' letters that come in every few weeks. Kinda surprised to find out her mother can read and write, but anyway, that's how I found out about her feelings. And since I had and still don't have any intention of marrying a girl twenty years younger than me, I nipped that in the bud." He kept quiet about the fact that she was around thirteen when she was hired. No need to piss off Kamina even more than he already is. "Though her family still wants to meet her ´kind, strong and handsome boss´, so here I am. Now it's my turn. Why are you headed for Tarbes?"

"Siesta said that there is a man that comes around to that place every few years. The stories he tells and the songs he sings are apparently the same as mine. I don't know what to think of it, but it's best to check it out." Well, if he was gonna leave himself that open, then it was his own fault.

"Har! Not like thinking is your specialty anyways, eh?" Marteau almost regretted it when he was brought face to face with a metallic face and yelled at to say that to Kamina's/Lagann's face. Almost. But he didn't, although he still deescalated the situation by turning around and saying that the driver better watch out, lest he squashed that convenient traveller ahead. Once they caught up to the rider, who seemed to briefly pass out at the sight of their massive vehicle, the trio found out that he was a servant of the baron in charge of the taxes in these parts. As it so happened, that very baron was now in custody due to some documents coming into the hands of the royal court, which amounted to confessions of his embezzlement of taxes. His reason for doing so was yet to be determined, but it was clear that he would face a long time in prison, if not the guillotine itself.

So now the rider had to inform every last village in the area about the incident, as well as explain how their taxation would be handled in the next month or two, till a new noble is put in charge. He then galloped off, and they resumed their previous silent march. Although, somewhat awkwardly, they overtook him a few minutes later, as he had exhausted his steed in trying to shake them off. And since Siesta was Siesta, she got the two men to reluctantly make some space in Marteau's hand for the two new passengers.

" _What next, room service à la Gurren Brigade? Fuck sake, how much longer is this walk gonna take?!"_

Kamina kept those thoughts to himself, but the others noticed the faster steps of the mecha, tipping them off about his ever degrading mood. The headache and urge to vomit were not helping. So was this the pain Louise felt whenever she held her head/whenever they interacted in any kind of way? Perhaps he understood her better now. If killing the person who caused the headache would get rid of it, he'd gladly blow them to pieces. What incredible self-restraint she had to only yell and scold him all the time. Or maybe she just had a stick up her ass. It works either way. Were they there yet?

No. No, they were not. How about now though?

Why yes, they were. It appeared that his headache increased the mecha's pace from five-hundred "Louise pissy walks" to about double that amount, give or take a few dozen. The only reason he noticed was three voices shouting for him to stop over the intercom. Oh great, his headache got worse.

"I stopped already. Quit your yelling."

He let them down on the ground, then told them to go ahead and do whatever it was that Siesta and Marteau wanted to do. He'd try to get some sleep in the meantime and join them later to deal with the matter of the storyteller. Knowing that leaving before he could have a proper breakfast had made his day even worse, Marteau spoke up before leaving.

"I'll come back for ya around lunchtime, champ." The chef would be presenting Siesta's family with a meal of his own making, and Kamina understood it along with the fact that he was invited. He closed his eyes, with a slightly less grumpy expression.

"Thanks, Marteau."

After hearing that, the chef followed Siesta into Tarbes. To be honest, it was less a village than a small town, though he could see why people would think it to be just a small group of farmers living together. On the way, they passed the expansive fields; suffice to say, they would leave a far bigger impression on you than the town itself. There were after all no wayfaring merchants, or at least none that they could hear, not even near the main plaza. Though even calling it a plaza was a stretch. It was just a crossing of roads, nothing more. After the plaza, they walked along a road that went past a tavern, and it was here that misfortune reared its ugly head.

On the ground in front of said tavern lay a half-eaten piece of meat, with a green puddle right next to it. It didn't take a genius to figure out that someone threw their unfinished meal away whilst barfing all over the place. Marteau was not amused. The maid didn't even bother stopping him from picking up the waste and running into the tavern to teach the culprit a lesson. To make sure that no one died, she followed him in. He had apparently gotten the information he wanted out of the bartender, so the chef left, after stuffing the dusted piece of meat into his mouth and swallowing it in one go.

"It's a guy about your size, with a brown cloak and a scar on his arm. If you see him, tell me. No one just wastes the work and ingredients put into their food on my watch." Siesta nodded at his demand, though she had a nagging voice in the back of her head that old her she knew who he was talking about. Regardless, they continued on their way toward her home, which appeared to be on the outskirts of the town. Marching onward also made the air slowly more fragrant. Its source soon peeked through the wooden houses, and Marteau had to admit that the sight was breathtaking. The fields on the way here may have all been impressive in their own right with their sheer size, but the mix of colours present in this particular field was simply astonishing. Red, blue, yellow, violet paint, all layered on top of a green foundation, turned the rather drab brown below into a wondrous rainbow. One could say it was easy on the eyes. One could also say it was so outlandishly pleasant to look at that it went full circle and made it incredibly difficult to keep your eyes on it.

As the chef's eyes were glued to the field of flowers, he barely caught Siesta stopping in her tracks. Curious, he turned to look at her, and found her staring at a young boy. He was playing with a black dog, laughing as the animal rolled around in the dirt whilst having its belly pat. Did she know him?

"Richie?" She spoke, and the boy faced her. For a minute, he looked quite confused. Then, his eyes lit up, as he jumped into her arms.

"Sis! You're back!" Oh, so it was her brother. Marteau stayed silent as the two shared in a hug and beckoned over the dog to keep him company.

" _Yeah, who's a good boy?"_ He muttered as it strode up next to him and nuzzled his hand. As he scratched its ear, he noticed Siesta's brother looking at him. He knew what came next.

"Who is this, Sis?" Facing the kid, he cut her off before she could utter a single word.

"Richie, I take it? The name's Marteau. Nice to meetcha!"

"Oh, so you're Sis' fiancé?" Wow. Awkward.

"Er, no. I'm her boss."

"Yeah, and her fiancé, right?" This wouldn't get any easier, would it?

"No. No, I'm not."

"But if you aren't her fiancé, what are you doing here?"

"Well, regardless of whether I am engaged to your sister or not, your parents are curious about her boss. And since a friend of mine needed to come here, I decided to tag along. Besides, what else am I gonna do for my three off days?"

"Oh. If it's like that, why are we still here? Let's go! Our house is right down the road!" Richie answered, pulling Siesta with him, who yelped and asked him to slow down as he ran up the road. Chuckling, Marteau got up and followed them, before briefly stopping. Where did that dog get to? "Come on!"

"Yes, Richie, I know! Calm down, will ya!" He yelled back, pushing aside the thoughts about the animal for now as he tried to catch up. However, that was easier said than done. The only reason he actually found them at all was because they had reached the house and were waiting for him. Completely tuckered out, he needed a minute to catch his breath, during which the boy laughed at him, whilst the maid worried whether he was alright. "Damn it, guess I'm out of practice because of Ol' Osmond. That, or I'm getting old like the grey bugger."

"Don't say that! You are still young, Marteau! Just look at your muscles!"

"…Siesta, do you do these things on purpose? Do you enjoy embarrassing yourself?"

"H-huh?!"

"I knew you were her fiancé!" Proving his point.

"In your dreams, kid. Now open the door, I need a place to sit." Richie huffed, but complied. After they entered the rather quaint wooden house, he closed the door and inhaled, before blowing Marteau and Siesta's eardrums out.

"Hey! Sis is back, and she brought a guest!" It took a while for the chef to get rid of the ringing in his ears, and once he did, he realized that he could not move. Wouldn't want to step on the feet of one of these half dozen children, after all. He had heard that Siesta had a few more siblings than others, but he never thought of it literally being four more children! Usually, a family had six members, but the ten that probably lived here was simply ridiculous! He shoved all of that into his "thoughts-for-later" part of his mind, and tried to force the best smile he could. They were staring at him expectantly, for some reason.

"Welcome back, dear!" Came a voice from the adjacent room, and a blur flew by his eyes, and hit Siesta. Once it settled, he realized that this was probably her mother smothering her. He hoped she wouldn't share the same misunderstanding as the kids. Better clear that up first, he thought as she turned to him. "And you are her boss, right? What was it again…Marteau?"

"Yep, that's me. Nice to meet you. Oh, and I also have a last name: Notsiestasfiancé. Please don't forget it, like Richie here always does. Ain't that right, Richie?" He answered, shooting a grin toward the boy, who shuffled away from him with a look of fear in his eye. The reason behind that fear followed quickly.

"Young man, have you been rude to your sister's boss?"

"Y-yeah. I guess I was."

"Whatever will I do with you…I apologize for his behaviour. He is a troublesome child, but he means well. Most of the time."

"It's not like it bothered me. Being called Siesta's fiancé is more bearable than having a nymphomaniac asking me for a dance at a ball." He tried to circumvent the fact that children were present, but wanting to hide something from them only made them more curious.

"Mum, what's a nymphomaniac?" Richie asked for all of them, and Marteau quickly reacted to get the woman out of this rather precarious situation.

"It's a girl who is too eager to fall in love, kiddo." That seemed to satisfy them for now, and the mother thanked him with a relieved look.

"Oh, but where are my manners, come in, take a seat! There is so much to talk about!"

"Sure, sure. But before that, I would like to use the kitchen. Think of it as me repaying your hospitality." He added, already seeing the protest forming in her eyes. The children were on his side, thankfully, as their stomachs growled at the thought of lunch. He asked whether Kamina would be allowed to join them, seeing as he promised him a meal, and once he got the OK, he asked Siesta to go fetch the poor guy. He was probably starving by now. Which reminded him, he should probably make sure this dish was as hearty and stuffing as possible. Otherwise the same fate that befell the fruits would happen to the entire food supply of this family.

As the maid exited her house and walked back, knowing that Marteau would take a while for his artistry, she noticed the dog from earlier trotting up to her, trembling ever so slightly. Kneeling, she gave it a pat on the head, making it nuzzle her hand with an affectionate growl. Oh. Founder. It was so cute! She kept on petting it, behind its ear, its cheek and its belly, she continued on and on, getting more and more into it as the world faded from her mind as the dog's happy growls took over her mind completely. Until a loud whistle cut through the air, and it jumped up, skipping over to its source, leaving a devastated Siesta behind.

"Doggie, no! Come back! I have so much love and affection left to give you!" She cried, running after it just as it rounded the corner up ahead. The second she herself turned that corner, a flash of brown filled her vision before she crashed into someone and caused the both of them to fall to the ground. It took a few moments for her to collect herself, in which she heard the pattering of paws drawing closer. Upon hearing a few quiet swears, her eyes widened. She knew that voice. Lifting her head, she confirmed it, and as he looked into her face, recognition flashed across his.

"Archie?"  
"Siesta?"

"What are you doing here?"  
"What are you doing here?"

"You go first."  
"You go first."

After that brief exchange, they noticed the position they were in. Their faces were nearly touching, they were that close together, and anyone passing by would reasonably, but falsely think that they were making out in public. Perhaps they even might assume that…well, their blushes surely weren't helping their current predicament. She got off of him, and apologized profusely while standing up. Meanwhile, he was paralysed on the ground, unable to say anything.

"J-just watch out from now on." He finally said as he got up and dusted himself off. Coughing, he then repeated his demand from a second ago. "Alright, now spit it out. Why are you here?"

"Well…" She trailed off as the dog sat down next to Archie. "Doggie!" She immediately started petting it, much to the man's surprise, who just gawked as she showered the animal with affection. "Is he yours? He is so cute!"

"Uh…yeah. I guess Chaplin's my dog. So the only reason you are in Tarbes is to stalk my pet? Did I get that right?" He asked, somewhat awkwardly as he tried to ignore the adorable sparkle she herself had in her eye. Though to be fair, calling Chaplin "his" dog was a stretch. Chaplin was one of the animals that had lived at the Count's estate, and Archie just kind of bumped into him in the capital, where he was begging for some food from an inn owner (with decent success, might he add, as he got some meat out of it). When the dog saw him, he just kind of tagged along. So after Archie got what he wanted from the capital and left, he followed. Anyways, he was digressing. Back to Siesta.

"Oh, no. I was actually visiting my family and was on my way to pick up Kamina for lunch, but then this cutie came up to me and…Founder, I forgot about Kamina!" She cried, getting up before bowing to him. "I'm sorry, but I need to go! See you later, Archie!" He watched as she ran around the next corner.

"Huh. Polite, isn't she, Chaplin? Wouldn't even show the decency to let me answer her question." The still shaking dog barked, as he pat his head and reached into one of the pouches on his belt, pulling out an apple. "Alright, alright, relax. Here. Should help with that stomach-ache of yours." As the dog ate, Archie's eyes fell on his arm. The deep cut he got all those years ago was still there, from his palm all the way to his elbow. It was a constant reminder of his promise. Not that he'd need it anyway. "You may have been a knight in shining armour, Salvatore, but you were really good at hiding your trail, weren't you…?"

Meanwhile, Siesta had reached Golem Lagann and had called Kamina down for lunch. Never before had she seen someone climb down a tower-sized puppet that quickly. The second he was in front of her, he was already egging her on to show the way. Concerns about the mecha were brushed aside by him holding up a small pendant in the shape of a drill. According to him, it was needed to get it to move, so that was a relief. On the way back, she was slightly disappointed to not find Archie in the same place. She would've liked to hear his reasons for being here. Oh well, she might meet him again, and then she could badger him all she wanted.

"We're back!"

"Right on time! I just got done with the pie. Have a seat." They heard whilst walking into the adjacent room, where the entire family was already waiting with their spoons in hand. As they sat down, Marteau entered with a tray in his hands, steaming with a delicious smell. Mouths watering as he put it on the table, they had to hold themselves back to not throw manners to the wind and dig in immediately upon being served, as the mother was watching with a dangerously innocent smile. Marteau and Kamina shared a look as they found out where Siesta learned that. It probably ran in the family.

Once everyone was served, everyone but Kamina (though he did wait for them) clasped their hands together in prayer and recited a short sermon, before shoving their spoons into the Shepherd's Pie and devouring it in one gulp. Long story short, they regretted it, and Marteau as well as their father were sure to laugh at them for it, and while their mother, together with Siesta, was trying not to, she couldn't help but giggle a bit as well despite her worry. "It's still hot, you know. Maybe you should wait for it to cool down." The chef and mother advised them, though the sound of a spoon being used did draw the attention of Richie.

"B-but what about him?" He asked, pointing at a careless Kamina stuffing himself like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh, he's our champion for a reason. Something as small as a hot dish is no match for him! Oh, and this meal is rather hearty, so it might just satisfy his hunger. Meaning, if you want another serving, you better act fast, or–"

"Hey Marteau, give me another serving, please."

"Sure, sure. So as I was saying, if you want another–"

"Marteau, may I have another?"

"Sure. Just let me finish my sentence–"

"My plate's already finished again."

"As is the pie, if you continue with this. Come on, give them a fighting chance at least!"

"Fine." Kamina mumbled before slouching down in his chair. The others had been watching with wide eyes, and the two from the Academy couldn't help but laugh. That's the look everyone had and would have when they saw and would see him do that for the first time. Siesta then took a spoonful, blew on it a bit, and ate it. It was alright for her now, so she continued. Once her siblings saw her eating, the panic finally set in, and they began gobbling up their meal. Richie was the first to finish, and asked for a second serving, but the chef stopped him.

"Richie, ya might want to take it easy. I may not have used that many ingredients, but it's still really stuffing. Imagine baking bread. Just like that, the pie inflates in your belly and fills ya up real quick. Have too much, and ya might explode!"

"Really?!"

"No, I'm just pulling your leg. Here you go." He served Richie his second serving and went back to his own. "But I wasn't lying when I said that it's stuffing. Eat slowly."

"A-alright, Marteau." A slap cut through the air, followed by Kamina yelling and holding his hand.

"What gives!?"

"Hands off the pie. You've had your fill for now. When everyone else is done, then you may have some more. In the meantime, you can ask about that guy you're looking for." Realization flashed across Kamina's face.

"Oh yeah. Kinda forgot about that till now." He said, sheepishly smiling, as the chef sighed and muttered _"Founder…"_ beneath his breath. He asked the married couple if they knew the man Siesta mentioned, a travelling story teller that taught her one of his songs. It took the maid's help, but eventually, the woman recalled something.

"Oh, you mean Sir Larive? Why, I remember him! He was such a kind soul. A bit rough around the edges, but he told such wonderful stories. You were so enamoured with him back then, dear." She sent Siesta a look, and in response got a tomato, completely ripe and ready for cooking.

"Mum!"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Now, if my memory serves, then Sir Larive comes by every six years. You met when you were five, then he returned when you were eleven." She briefly lifted her hand and counted from one to seven before smiling. "That means he should be coming back any day now. Lucky you! I'm sure he'll be glad to see you again."

"Just a short question: where does this Larive guy come from?" Kamina interjected, having been denied another serving again by an ever angrier Marteau.

"No idea. We don't know much about him."

"No, I meant, which direction does he come from?"

"Hm? I believe that on his second visit, he arrived from the forest to the north…"

"Alright, thanks. Now I know where to go." He answered, before trying, and failing, to get his hands on the rest of lunch yet again. His hand balled into a fist, he had to visibly hold back to not curse in front of the children. Marteau quickly checked everyone else's take on this. Upon seeing them cede the last servings, he put the tray back on the table, and let Kamina eat the last parts of his lunch. He would've, anyway, had he not heard the sound of panting from right next to him.

It was a dog, eyeing the meal on his plate. How the hell did it get in here in the first place?! They had a brief staring contest, but he refused to cede his food. When Siesta saw who he was defiantly staring at, she squealed and all but teleported next to it. "Chaplin! You came back!" And immediately began giving it a bath in her love. Kind of reminded him of Guiche and his mole. As the dog began whining, she noticed its eyes on the prize. And immediately began giving Kamina better puppy eyes than the animal itself. He was nearly swayed, he had to admit. But a whistle echoed through the open window, pushing the thoughts of the two adorable creatures before him to the back of his mind. Seems like he now knew how that stupid dog got here.

"Oi! Chaplin! Get back here! We're leaving!" Huh. He vaguely remembered that voice, unlike Siesta, who shot up and strode over to the window and began waving.

"Hi, Archie!"

"… _I swear this dog is trying to play matchmaker or something_. Hi. Long time no see." Was the answer that came through the window, the latter part at least, and her waving, apparently, was more of a ´get-over-here´ kind of wave than a ´why-hello-there´, judging from the approaching footsteps. A familiar face was poked through the window, and Kamina recognized him after a moment.

"Aren't you that guy from that bas- count's house?" It appeared that Archie recognized him too, as he leaned on the window sill.

"Yeah, I am. Didn't expect to find you guys here though. What gives?"

"I am looking for a storyteller who knows how I can get home. You?" The man in the window raised an eyebrow.

"Huh. What a coincidence. We might be looking for the same guy. Does the name Larive ring a bell?"

"You got it! Now let me guess, you were yelling about leaving because you found out where he is, right?" For a split second, his friends from the Academy thought about teasing him for actually figuring something like this out, but it seemed like Archie had them covered.

"You're smarter than you look." As the insulted man was about to curse, he continued, satisfied with his handiwork. "Someone in the tavern told me that he saw someone fitting his description in the northern woods. Want to tag along?"

"'Course. _Prick…_ " Was the muttered response from Kamina, who sank into his chair. Meanwhile, Siesta piped up. There was something wrong with what the man was saying.

"Um, Archie, how exactly did you get a description of him? I doubt many people here even remember Sir Larive, it took my mother five minutes of memory jogging to find out. Now look at how exhausted she is." Though she couldn't help trying to make a bad joke. Kamina just cheered up, she didn't want his mood back in the dump again. Seeing him in that bad a mood earlier had set her for life on that front.

"No dear, that's the food." Well, it appears that her mother was intent on ruining her fun.

"…I have my sources. Anyway, I'll be heading off, if you don't mind, seeing as Chaplin has finished his and your plate." Kamina's head turned faster than Lagann's drill to witness the dog lick his lips after his good meal. Which included the entire rest of the pie. He was furious.

"You little-" But he couldn't let his anger loose as Archie interrupted him with a good point.

"Hurry now, wouldn't want to go out after the sun sets. Wolves roam these woods." The man said as his dog jumped out the window.

"Oh, can I come along too? I would like to meet Sir Larive again."

"Why not? As long as we return before sunset, there shouldn't be a problem. In which case we should hurry." Now it was a good line.

"By the way, Archie, was it? I want to talk to you later about something. So come back quickly." The chef told him, having seen the scar on his arm.

"I don't even know you. Why should I bother talking to you when you sound like you'll tear me a new-" Before the children's ears could be soiled, he was cut off.

"The name's Marteau, and you'll do it because Siesta will ask you to. Right?" She had vanished. It took a while for everyone to find her again, kneeling next to the dog.

"Yes, yes, now let's go already! Right, Chaplin? Right, boy? Who's a good boy? Exactly! You are!" Everyone simultaneously sweat-dropped.

" _She doesn't care one bit about that storyteller, doesn't she? Stupid dog. See what happens when you act all cute and stuff."_ Archie mumbled beneath his breath, and it was a thought all men present echoed in their minds. Making it a good triangle. And since this was the point where Kamina couldn't be bothered to add another dot to the ´good-statement-shape-aphore´, he stood up.

"Fine. I'll go fetch Derf and meet you in front of the forest."

Perhaps the word ´meet´ was a bit misused here. He didn't so much ´meet´ them as much as he nearly stomped them into a fine paste. Turns out, when he said that he'd fetch Derf, he actually meant to bring Golem Lagann over to the north side of town with the sword inside, and brown blends in quite well with the dirty path they were standing on. They had to spend a few minutes to try and calm down Archie and Chaplin, who both thought the heavens were falling on their head. When Kamina got out with his cape on, Siesta decided to just let it play out instead as the man fell to his knees, begging for forgiveness for all his sins, which included, funnily enough, stealing a noblewoman's ring, which he pulled from a second pouch and held up as some sort of offering. But once that misunderstanding was cleared up, he seemed almost offended.

"Forget I said anything." He said grumpily, and shoved the ring back where it came from. They headed for the forest, passing the edges of the flower field to the west. The wind picked up on the way, blowing the wonderful smell into their noses. Like cherry blossoms, the fragrant gust made their spirits rise, and with their spirits did their feet begin to fly along the path. When they passed through the first few trees, they were disappointed to find that they blocked the wind. The peace of the meadow beginning to fade from their minds, Kamina remembered something about these woods. They were the same as the ones near the Academy, and if his memory was right, then he felt it in the air back then. The presence of a true hunter. One that killed for sport, nothing more, nothing less.

He was on guard, and tightened his grip around Derf. Like hell is he gonna let some punk kill him or Siesta when he was so close to finding a lead home. They stuck to the path for the most part, seeing as there would be no reason for a storyteller to ever stray from it. Besides, the feeling of being followed made for a great deterrent, aided by Chaplin's low growling from time to time. Unfortunately, as it turned out, this part of the forest wasn't all that big, so there wasn't much path they could search through, which they found out when they arrived on the other side, where they were greeted by a splitting path. Deciding that it would be best to return to Tarbes to ask for more leads, the group made their way back. However, they had to make haste, as the sky was starting to get blotted out by dark clouds. It would rain soon. Adding on to their misfortune, if their guts were right, then their way back led right through whatever was stalking them.

As they ran along the path, Chaplin's growls became louder and louder as they presumably drew closer and closer to who or whatever was following them. Siesta didn't need to be told to stick close to her one and only love, the dog, for protection. Neither did Kamina need any instructions to be the one in front (despite his horrible sense of direction), and he drew Derf in preparation. The tension shut them up quite effectively, the only sound in their ears being their footsteps in the dirt, the growls of Chaplin, and the occasional hoot of an owl. Night would soon fall, and so they sped up their pace.

Until the outline of three figures in the distant shadows of the trees further up the path, and they were headed for them. Kamina immediately stood still, and gave the others a signal to stay quiet. Archie nodded, and pulled Siesta into the shadows, shushing her, before drawing a dagger from his belt and giving Chaplin the order to watch over her. Right after, he all but vanished in the underbrush. Now that his companions were safe, Kamina challenged their stalkers.

"Hey! You guys up ahead! Who the hell are you?!" Their movement ceased, giving him some time to try and get a proper look at them. Each one of them was a different size, with only of them reaching his height, one of them barely came up to his chin, and the last was about as big, if not smaller than Louise, and was holding a large stick that was even bigger than them. He took some steps forward, trying to get a better look. Also, he couldn't shake that sense of familiarity. The biggest one charged at him, and he held up his weapon in defence.

"Oh daaaaarling!"

Wait. He knew that voice. He knew it all too well. Groaning, he sheathed the snoring Derf, and tapped his foot as Zerbst came running over, followed by what he assumed to be Guiche and Tabitha. Why the hell were they here? It's not like they had something to ask the storyteller too, right? Regardless, after dodging the hug the germanian threw his way along with herself, he called out to his companions hiding in the trees that everything was alright. Siesta poked her head out together with Chaplin, and upon seeing who he was dealing with, sighed in relief. Archie somehow appeared next to him and put away his dagger, mumbling something about being glad there was no fight. Anyway, now that everyone was here, it was time for a good old fashioned interrogation, Kamina-style.

"So. Why and how did you get here?" It was a rather straight forward style. But because his target was more than willing to sing like a bird, it did its job.

"Isn't it obvious? After you disappeared, I looked all over the place for you, my darling! It took me a lot of effort to get it from Tabitha, but once I knew the direction you were in, I felt my lov-"

"Get to the point, Zerbst. It's gonna start raining soon, and unlike you, I have no intention of getting wet."

"Oh my. Are you-"

"No, I'm not coming on to you."

"Damn. Alright, so I looked for Vallière to squeeze it from her, but couldn't find her, so I had to ask Tabitha. I promised some books in exchange for the flight over here, Guiche happened to hear where we were going, and asked to join us. It didn't even take that long to find you guys. After all, it's kind of hard to miss a giant golem, isn't it?" That was weird. He remembered distinctly telling Louise at breakfast where he was headed, and he knew it to be true, because the only taste he had in his mouth the whole morning was that of the bread he ate back then. Where the hell had she disappeared to?

"Mecha, Zerbst. Mecha. Anyways, I think we should head back." He shook those thoughts from his mind for now, remembering the weather. Although, as Kamina took a step forward, Tabitha's staff blocked his way. He noted Chaplin's growling, which he realized had been directed at her up until now, but now the two of them were staring into the underbrush. The pattering of paws entered his ears. He drew Derf.

Meanwhile, at a nearby crossroads, a small girl with pink hair was leaning against her trusty brown steed, waiting for her escort. As it turned out, the princess had lied about the day her mission would begin, in case of any eavesdroppers, and had written the truth inside the envelope detailing her rendezvous-point. The mission to save Tristain from Reconquista was to begin the day Henrietta returned to the capital, which was the day after the ball. In other words, today. Louise clenched her fists. This was it. She would finally be able to redeem herself for all of her failures. Success was her only option.

Her preparations that morning were short. Packing only the bare essentials, the purple envelope, her wand (though its applicability was restricted to combat in open fields, but still, better safe than sorry) and, of course, Charlie. She had made sure to buy a larger portion of carrots for him than usual today; he had earned it the day before, when he saved both her and her partner from getting crushed. When she got back, she'd also do him a favour and brush his coat. It'd been too long since the mage had properly taken care of her horse, with the Academy and bullying soaking up all her energy.

In the distance, Louise heard howling, and shivered as a cold breeze blew by. Actually, that was no breeze. That was a veritable gust of wind, and the flapping of wings alerted her to its source. How had they snuck so close without her noticing?! She drew her wand as her gaze shot skyward. Against the sunlight, she could make out the shape of a griffon, staring down at her together with its rider.

"Identify yourself!" She yelled, waving her wand as a warning. The beast remained in the skies, but appeared to be descending. "I'm warning you!" She added, but the wind picking up effectively shut her up, as the clouds blocked thee sunlight, and her eyes adjusted to finally recognize the rider smiling at her as it landed. His grey beard, purple hat with a feather and the sword-wand were a dead giveaway. In front of her stood the captain of Tristain's Griffon Knights. "W-w-wardes?! W-w-w-what are you doing here?!" She asked, embarrassed as he got off his own mount, and walked up to her with his serene smile.

"Why, my dear Louise, I am your escort. As your fiancé, I can't let anyone else watch over you on this mission." He said, before kneeling and pulling her hand toward his mouth, giving it her same treatment as he would royalty. "I am so happy to see you again. It's been too long." Standing up, he led her over to the griffon, who tilted its head as she shook from embarrassment. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite." Wardes chuckled as he misinterpreted her shaking, and placed her hand on its neck. "Feel free to pet him. He likes it." Simply following his lead, she stroked its feathers. They kind of felt like a mixture of Charlie's coat and a cat's tongue, to the eleventh degree. Tough but soft to the touch, she would put it, prickly, but because she was allowed to touch it, a sign of affection. The griffon genuinely liked her.

She giggled as it squawked. It almost sounded like when Kamina came back from breakfast, he always let out those really long sighs of satisfaction. But those were the times of when he lived with her. Right now, she was on a mission. Removing her hand from the griffon, Louise turned around to get on her own mount, but was stopped by her fiancé's gloved hand. "Louise, please, get on the griffon. It'll be much faster than by horse, and we might just finish this by tomorrow." Her expression fell as she looked at her trusted horse.

"B-but Charlie…"

"Don't worry, my dear. I'm sure he will find his way back to the Academy unharmed. Horses are very tenacious creatures. They don't die that easily."

"Alright…"

"If you feel bad about it, then we can pray for him in La Rochelle tonight." He finished their conversation by lifting her up on his griffon. Giving Charlie a pat on the back first, he thanked him for his work, then on the rear second with a lot more force to get the horse moving. He galloped off into the distance, and with a satisfied expression, Wardes climbed back onto the griffon. He needed no command to get it to move, it immediately began soaring northwest once he sat down. _"And so it begins, Cromwell."_ He thought to himself with the tiniest hint of a smirk, not noticing the blush Louise was wearing.

"Okay Archie, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't wolves supposed to be just a bit bigger than dogs, and not the size of a damn horse?" Kamina asked the other man, who was watching their other flank. They were completely surrounded by these gigantic beasts, so everyone capable of fighting had formed a circle around Siesta and Chaplin, who was now full on barking. Archie grumbled at their current predicament.

"Nope. No idea what the fuck these things are. All I know is that they are not from around these parts. Also, just as a heads-up, I will probably be useless in this fight." He took a step back when he saw one of them fletching its teeth at him. Just great.

"As long as you have a weapon, that's fine by me." Well, at least Blondie had faith in him. That has to count for something. Won't be much though, especially if he ends up as dog-shit. One of them, which was standing on a rock, presumably the Alpha, then howled, and the onslaught began.

Zerbst formed a fiery hammer, and smashed it right into their faces. They whined as their bones melted from the flames and their flesh turned to black ashes. Tabitha speared them up on icy spikes and pinned their corpses to the trees nearby, letting them bleed to death as the next was always there, ready to avenge its brethren. Guiche summoned Valkyries to block their attacks with a shield, then proceeded to capitalize on their staggering with a weapon of his own making. Kamina stuck Derf right in their mouths, and, with two combined battlecries, cutting through their fangs, cleaved their faces in half. And meanwhile, Archie was doing his darndest to immobilize them, slitting their eyes and noses, albeit it only had limited effect, as they began flailing about wildly once they lost their senses, meaning it still posed a threat, until it inevitably got caught up in a stray attack and dying as a form of collateral.

Unfortunately for them, this pack seemed to consist of what felt like the population of these things on the entire world. For every corpse, there were at least two more that jumped into their view. Such a fight tired anyone quickly, and with each beast taking up a lot of energy to take down already, it only accelerated that process. They were fighting a losing battle, they knew that, but damn it if they wouldn't go down in a blaze of glory…! at least, that's what Kirche, Kamina and Guiche were thinking. Archie and Tabitha had taken notice of one critical fact. The one that was on the rock, the Alpha, howled for more reinforcements every time one of them died. Meaning, if it stopped howling, this would be over. Their main issue was actually killing it.

No one else had apparently noticed, and in the heat of battle, they had to focus on their own fight to stay alive. Any distraction would be fatal, so informing them would cause all of them to be overwhelmed. Tabitha knew she was the only one capable of taking that risk. She was by far the most powerful mage here, and the single person who specialized in ranged attacks. Guiche and Kamina used swords, Kirche a magic fire hammer, and Archie was too weak to kill even one of them. She barely had any room to breathe, and she knew it wouldn't let up any time soon. A calculated risk had to be taken here, she told herself once another beast bit the dust she shoved into its mouth and nailed to the wall that was the oak in front of her. She prepared a spell that would drill a hole big enough inside the Alpha to make it look like Kamina had taken a bite out of it. As one of them closed in, she pointed her staff at her target, ready to tear it a new way to breathe.

But a loud, painful wince stopped her. The beast cried before dropping from its high pedestal and onto the ground. All the others immediately fled, scared of whatever it was that killed their leader. Within seconds, the area was completely deserted, barring the group and the few dozen corpses on the ground. Wondering why it died, she walked up to it, ignoring Kirche's questions about her wellbeing. Tabitha ran her hand through its fur, but couldn't feel anything of note, no injury of any sort. No blood either, not even on the ground. But then she saw it. A single, thin black arrow, stuck in its eye. It was an extremely clean shot, right through the eyeball to the brain. It died basically in an instant. As she went to pull it out, a furry hand reached out to grab it from above.

Her gaze shot up, where she stared into the slit golden eyes of a true predator. His hood may obscure his face, but she still saw his fangs, glistening in the fading sunlight. Everyone else yelled for her to take cover, but somehow, she couldn't. There was something in those eyes that kept her from looking away. She felt a connection to them, somehow. Which kept her interested in this predator, even as he pulled out his arrow and put it in his quiver on his belt. He walked toward Kamina, who still had Derf drawn. Once he stood right in front of him, a loud laugh echoed from the trees.

"Long time no see, eh?" Hold on, did they know each other somehow?

"Who the hell are you?!" Apparently not. She heard him sigh.

"Why is it that you always forget me, ya stupid ape? Alright then, let me refresh your memory." He took off his hood, revealing his long white hair. Pointing at Kamina's belly, he spoke again. "I am Viral. Member of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, and the guy responsible for that scar."

… **I won't say anything. Shit will happen in the next few chapters. Let's leave it at that. Oh, and Archie will be appearing more frequently from now on, as a somewhat major character. Kind of on Tabitha, Siesta, or Henrietta's level of major. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this trip to Tarbes, and that I'll be seeing you next time. Whenever that is. I've gotten no sleep over the last few days. See ya. I'm taking a nap.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Welcome, one and all! I'll just make a short announcement. This'll be the last chapter I can release this month, because I have to attend private affairs on the literal other side of the globe/disk. With that in mind, I** _ **might**_ **be able to squeeze in one of those "nuggets" I spoke of in the "after-chapter-rant" of chapter 19. If I get around to writing that, it'll probably be its own story, where I'll archive all these "nuggets". It'll probably be named "´Towbwnb´ nuggets" or something of the sort. Just check if it exists in the FoZ x Gurren Lagann crossover section on the 13** **th** **of December. If not, then that's that.**

 **Anyway, to the reviews!**

 **GammaCavy: Probably. I mean, who knows. It could be anyone. For all we know, it might even be Lagann itself that handed itself over to Osmond. Feel free to expect literally** _ **anyone.**_ **Because if Gurren Lagann taught me anything, is that you can do the impossible (and see the invisible (row, row, fight da power)).**

 **On we go!**

„Spit it out, fuzzball."

„Patience isn't your strong suit, is it?" The answer Viral got made him even more exasperated.

"Nope."

"Well, you'll still have to wait till we get to the cave. I'm not explaining myself in this rain." That may or may not be exaggerated. It was rumbling in the distance, sure, but nary a drop was falling on their heads. The most water they'd found so far was a foot wide river they literally stepped over on their way here.

"Why? You scared of a little water?" It became increasingly apparent that Kamina wanted his explanation as badly as he wanted breakfast in the morning.

"No. But I prefer not being and having a cold. It's just up ahead anyway. I can see it already."

Tabitha had listened to the men's conversation with great interest, as it'd given her the opportunity to learn quite a bit about this mysterious Viral and Kamina (although him always wearing his heart on his sleeve made that slightly unnecessary). Back to Viral, for one, from him seeing the cave, and her being unable to, she realized that he must be able to see better in the dark than humans. And from what the other man said earlier, he appeared to be looking for a storyteller named Larive; but unlike her, he didn't seem to notice the fact that Larive was an anagram of Viral with an added E at the end. Adding Viral's attitude of dismissing questions about the storyteller and promising he'd answer later, and she considered her suspicions mostly confirmed. Viral was Larive.

After a moment of silence passed, a drop of rain actually did hit her glasses. She held her hand out to check, and sighed. It was just a stray. Taking off her glasses, she cleaned them with her cape. Unless rain started to properly fall, it would be wiser to keep her glasses clean. You never know what might happen. For instance, another drop hitting the exact same spot. As she put them back on after cleaning them again, the cave the beast (?) spoke of came into view. It was as she had suspected, his eyesight was better than that of a human.

Once the others saw it, they urged to increase their pace, with even more intensity once the rain started coming down consistently and quickly made the warmth of summer disappear from their mind and body. The thing that truly made them go faster, however, was the dog, who'd been growling at her and Viral ever since he saw them and barked once he, too, felt the cold sting hit his skin. Although she wondered about the animal's hostility toward her, the dog wasn't as interesting as the cloaked predator, so her mind dropped the subject pretty quickly. Besides, there was that odd connection she felt toward him she wanted to find an explanation for.

Upon entering the cave, everyone collectively sighed. It had been quite a trek from the beaten path, so the group had been constantly on guard for any more of those Diamond Dogs, as Viral had called them. According to him, they normally lived in the east, far, far into elvish territory. At times, when they ran out of food in their native environment, he explained, they travelled west in search of prey. They also had this odd clock hidden in their instincts that gave them a good idea as to when a return home was feasible. Still, rarely, they went far enough to cross the border to Germania, but only for very short times, as the animals there were too small to nourish them over too long periods. Seeing one in these parts was a first for him, too, because of that; it might be the first recorded sighting of these creatures outside of the elvish lands. As for the unrecorded ones, well, they probably ended up in the east as blind passengers in the Diamond Dog's stomach.

After the group took a look, they noted the fact that this cave was rather small. Too small, to be honest. They barely fit inside, and building a campfire would take up more space than they could afford. But Viral was seemingly unperturbed, standing by the back wall. "Now then, where was it…?" He was patting the stone with his claws, looking for something. He soon found it. "Got it." He pushed his fingers into the wall, making part of it crumble. His hand now around a grip of sorts, he pulled. A dusty box came off, behind it a lock, and, reaching into a pouch, he pulled out the corresponding key. It was coloured red, albeit a bit blanched; its blade was shaped like a star.

Upon opening the lock with some difficulty, the entire cave shook, and they watched in astonishment as the back wall slowly moved aside. What lay behind? Total darkness. Anything beyond a foot in distance was obscured in this ever hungry black sheet. However, Viral just stepped in, felt around the corner a bit, then something clicked, and the veil was lifted. A light went on in the centre of the room, which was easily as big as at least three of the Academy's noble-sized bedrooms put together. The beast (?) turned around, and did a small flourish.

"Welcome to my humble abode."

After everyone filed into the room, he went over to an odd contraption in the back and pressed another button, though its effects were easy to decipher as their shivers began to lessen over the next few minutes. The warm air made Tabitha's mind race all the faster, but before she could indulge her curiosity, Kamina waltzed up to Viral and demanded an explanation for his being here. Sighing, he walked over to a set of chairs and a table beneath the lamp. He gestured for everyone to take a seat, a suggestion they accepted all too happily. Once everyone was comfortable, he began telling his tale. To Kamina, at least.

"Let me first tell you what has become of the Dai-Gurren Brigade. After they took the Dai-Gunzan, or the Dai-Gurren, as they called it, their journey went on as it had before. However, after your sudden disappearance, spirits were low. Simon was in his room all day, creating statues in your image, or so I heard. The only one to get him out was a girl he rescued." It appeared that he wouldn't be kind to those out of the loop, as evidenced by the general confusion. Siesta, too, wasn't familiar with all these terms. But the leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, apparently, knew more than even he should.

"Nia, right?" After a brief period of shock, Viral visibly tried to restrain himself from yelling at the sheer impossibility of the situation.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Yoko told me in a dream." The ridiculous answer confused the others even further, but surprisingly, the beastman seemed to settle down slightly after that.

" _So I was right_. Anyway, after he finally accepted your death, he went on to destroy every last of the remaining four generals and their Dai-Ganmen. Eventually, he stood before the Spiral King himself. Their battle…it truly was a spectacle to behold. Two spirits, clashing with all they had…it was unlike anything I'd ever see again." Impatience, sorry, Kamina, spoke up again.

"I don't care about your feelings. What I want to know is how to get back home." What a terrible listener, Viral thought. Probably came with the territory of telling so many stories himself.

"I'm getting to it. Skipping the repopulation of the surface, seven years ahead to be precise, we arrive at the day after Dayakka and Kiyoh's child was born. It was a harrowing day for humanity; it was the day the Anti-Spirals attacked."

"The what now?" This was getting annoying.

"The Anti-Spirals. A, uh…it's hard to define what they were, exactly, but let's call them a different kind of humanity. They kidnapped Nia and threatened to destroy the planet."

"As if they could actually do that." Kirche interjected, and the storyteller, slowly building up the desire for murder due to these constant interruptions, now even from a second source, explained himself.

"Sure they could. Dropping a moon on a planet is quite effective at eradicating it." Kirche still wasn't convinced.

"Bullshit! How would they do that!" Oh, that was an easy one.

"With Ganmen. Naturally. Once it became obvious that the Dai-Gurren Brigade was unable to deal with the problem in a safe manner, Rossiu assumed control and sent Simon to prison for endangering the citizens of Kamina City."

"So he named a city after me, huh…?" Viral turned to find a somber looking man staring at the core drill hanging below his head.

"You were his role model. Your ´death´ left a deep scar in him. He may have accepted it further up the road, but he never forgot what it was you did for him, and all of humankind." Kamina's expression dropped, and Viral realized that he could probably continue with less interruptions. "After he ended up in prison, we met for the first time since the war. Had a really good fight, too; it was the most alive I'd felt in ages. Of course, the moon falling on our heads kind of undercut that, so Yoko bailed us out to save the day."

"She thought saving your sorry ass was a good idea?" So much for that. At least he wasn't being a prick about it.

"Took a bit of convincing on Simon's part, I'll admit. We learned a lot about each other through our fists. Enough that he thought it to be a good idea to let me borrow Gurren for a while. Then we went to space." A palm hit the table.

"How?! Why?! This story is utterly ridiculous!" Enough was enough, Kirche thought as she gave the thoughts of the sane people a voice. She was waved off, though, with little respect from the storyteller for being rudely interrupted _once again_.

"Correct. But that's how the Dai-Gurren Brigade rolls."  
"…the Dai-Gurren Brigade rolls."

Viral took a moment to realize what Kamina had just done. Heh. Guess he finally accepted that he had been part of the Brigade. After all, only insane people who thought the inconceivable was completely normal were allowed join. It was kind of a bar of entry, to be honest. _"You need to be this stupid and/or crazy to join."_ Not like any sane people would ever consider it, for better or for worse. Probably the former.

"I think it's best I fill you in on the fact that about half a million people were being brought to outer space by the Arc Gurren, a Ganmen at least a hundred times the size of the Dai-Gurren. It was Rossiu's idea to save humanity that way. Didn't exactly help with his plan that the Anti-Spirals brought a giant fleet to obliterate them. That's where we came in."

"How many did you get with your battle-cry alone?"

"'bout a hundred of them." It was at this point that everyone with an ounce of sanity lost the ability to follow anything that was happening in this crazy mess of a story.

"Not bad. So then you obviously combined with the Arc Gurren, right?"

"Yep. Even twisted space-time while we were at it."

"And the moon?"

"Darry and Gimmy had to take control of the Arc Gurren Lagann while Simon and I shoved a Giga Drill into its core. Turns out, it was another Ganmen. We named it Chouginga Dai-Gurren, in homage to the Dai-Gurren they busted in the fight against the Spiral King."

"It's a good name. Not the best, but a good one."

"Yeah, but the fight wasn't over yet."

"Of course it wasn't. You have yet to tell me how you assaulted their home base."

"I swear, it's almost as if you know the story better than I do."

"Hey, you told me I am Simon's role model. Also, we both know the Dai-Gurren Brigade's approach to things."

"True. We opened a portal with Chouginga's power and put the real moon back where it belonged, then another to attack the Anti-Spirals where it hurt. _And just between us, we changed outfits for it, and Yoko's was straight bangin'._ "

"What are you two whispering about?" The germanian interjected again, feeling rather left out – it was more of a conversation between Kamina and Viral, to be honest, and the fact that so many names popped up that the others, her included, had no way to follow what the two were talking about, only frustrated them further. The beastman, annoyed once more at her rude interruption, dodged the question by answering truthfully.

"The meaning of life. So, once we arrived, we were immediately, and I mean immediately fucked. After trapping us in some kind of weird space, they unleashed huge warships on us, even larger than the Chouginga. The drill of Arc Gurren Lagann did nothing."

"So you combined with the Chouginga."

"Indeed. But it took a lot of Spiral Energy to power up, so the Anti-Spirals didn't just leave us to it. No, they threw us into the Sea of Despair."

"Sounds like that bathhouse Ganmen."

"Pffft, that hunk of junk? You still remember that?"

" _Let's just say those mosaic things really got to me._ "

"The Sea of Despair was a terrifying place. Imagine being crushed to death by all sides in perfect darkness. That's what it felt like. We were constantly being pulled further in by its core, and we knew that we'd eventually turn to dust if this kept up. So Kittan, with one of Gurren Lagann's drills, made the ultimate sacrifice, and carved a hole right through it. _But not without stealing a kiss from your girlfriend._ "

"That dirty son of a bitch! I'll fucking kill him!"

"Kamina…don't you want to honour his sacrifice?" Siesta seemed to be down upon hearing of this heroic deed, and Viral made sure to keep the damage from his baiting as low as possible. Because he knew that beneath all the desire to rip Kittan a new arsehole, there was some deep respect for the man.

"Oh no, that's not it. I just slipped him some info he, and only he would be keen to know. Let's leave it at that. So, once the core was gone, the Sea of Despair dissolved into pure Spiral Energy. It was more than enough to make the Chouginga transform. We tore those bastards apart in seconds. But…"

"There's more? How could there possibly be more?" Kirche was a horrible listener, which Viral was all too keen to let her know with a baring of his fangs accompanied by a frightening glare. She shrunk back the tiniest bit, but stuck out her tongue at him in defiance a second later. Sighing, he continued, hoping this was the last of it.

"They still had a whole pocket universe waiting for us, in which our deepest dreams were reality. Once we realized that, we pulled out with the help of Gurren Lagann and rescued Nia. Then…it's hard to describe. Imagine your insides becoming your outsides, in emotional terms. I felt…whole when the entire Brigade combined. The Ganmen was bigger than the universe itself. It's name was…"

" **Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann**. The heaven-piercing Gurren Lagann." Kamina knew. He just knew what it had to be called, the Ganmen larger than the heavens themselves…he wondered just how big it had to be. The storyteller nodded, but kept his solemn attitude.

"But not even that was enough. Our bond was torn apart, and only with another sacrifice did we find the willpower to combine again. **Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann**. For the first time we had surpassed the Anti-Spirals. I felt like my soul had grown in that very moment. With one last Giga Drill Break, we destroyed them. It was finally over, and a week later, whilst we were still celebrating the liberation of mankind, Simon and Nia were wed. However…" The way Viral trailed off made Kamina's eyes widen, and his hands curl up into fists as it dawned on him.

"…don't tell me…"

"Nia was a creation of the Anti-Spirals. Without them, she vanished right after they kissed." The man's fist hit the table.

"Why? Why can't my brother ever be happy?! First, I have to go and vanish on him, and then the woman he loves dies! Fuck!" Kamina nearly smashed the table as he continued pounding on it. It was the only way he could deal with this harsh truth. He was so happy to hear his brother had surpassed him, and yet, the universe just kept trying to keep joy away from him! If anyone should have a happy life, it was Simon! So why?!

"Listen, Kamina. I know you're not in the best state right now, but I have worse news to tell you." It wasn't over?!

"What could be worse than Simon not getting what he deserves?! Huh?! What?!"

"Time is a cruel mistress. I know this'll be hard to swallow, but…the story I told you just now took place over five thousand years ago." His brain did a full stop.

"I hope I misheard." It was all it could muster to protect itself from the onslaught of despair welling up in his chest.

"Did you hear me telling you that this happened over five thousand years ago?" He felt faint.

"Yeah." He barely managed to answer.

"Then your ears are fine." His vision went dark, and he fell on the table, unconscious. The others jumped up to check on him, and Viral went over to the back of the room to press yet another button which made a mattress and pillow drop from the wall. "Drop him on here." He advised Tabitha, who had raised the unconscious Kamina into the air with a spell. Nodding, she did as he said, and silence sounded through the room. Eventually, Siesta spoke up.

"Sir Larive…sorry, Sir Viral…are you really responsible for Kamina's scar? And is what you just said true?"

"Yes, I am. I'm sure he told you of the beastmen. And yes, everyone Kamina knew and loved…is now dead." The maid nodded with tears in her eyes as she stroked the man's face. Upon hearing the maid know what a ´beastman´ was, Tabitha's curiosity turned into frustration. It felt like she was the only one out of the loop. And whilst the story had been interesting, she didn't have any context, meaning she couldn't understand any of it. Before he knew it, she sat beside Viral, and poked him in the side. "Hm? What is it?"

"Story." He blinked.

"I just got done telling one."

"Context."

"Oh, so he didn't tell you about the war against the beastmen?" She shook her head. "Alright then, let me start at the beginning. It all began with a boy your size drilling a hole into the ground…"

As the story went on, something dawned on Tabitha. Viral's way of speaking about these events from a time apparently long past almost sounded like he was immersing himself in a time during which he was happy. It was a wistful tone, and she could hear the punch in the gut that was his being stuck in a time where all his friends were gone. All but one. And even that was a debatable relationship, judging from their earlier spat. So that was the reason behind the connection she felt. She, too, was yearning for a time when things were better.

Once the story was over, he asked her whether she was satisfied. The truth was, she had no idea if she'd ever be. Staring him in the eye, she demanded an explanation of a certain word she didn't understand. "Spiral Energy?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess you wouldn't know about it. You mages actually copied something there – you know the term ´willpower´? It actually originates from Spiral Energy – it's the will to succeed, to progress, to evolve, this everlasting belief that nothing is impossible."

"Hope?" She stated, and after a short period of thinking, the beastman nodded.

"That's another way to put it." Now that her curiosity about that was satisfied, she pointed at a big red button that was placed in the darkest corner of the room. His gaze became much harder. "That button will not be pushed, unless it's a dire emergency, and I allow it. Got it?" Nodding at his wish, yet disliking his harsher tone, she asked for one last explanation.

"Five thousand years?" He seemed to become even more downtrodden as he pulled a crossbow from his belt and loaded a bolt. She watched curiously until he held it to his head. Her tongue wasn't fast enough to yank the weapon from his hands before he let it loose. The bolt got its first half through his skull before getting stuck, and Tabitha watched in horror as the hand carrying the crossbow dropped toward the ground. Her thoughts drowned out the others' shocked cries. W-why did he do that? Her feelings…were they to be trampled yet again?

"I will never get used to that." He casually said, slowly pulling the bolt from his head to make sure the prongs left him exactly the way they entered. No need to add another cross-shaped hole in the side of his head. Her eyes wide, she could do nothing but stare at a completely fine and healthy Viral. "If a master of Spiral Energy wishes, they can make you immortal. My King did this, a long time ago. Still hurts like hell, though." The best way to digest this revelation was to hear another story, said Tabitha's mind, continuing to tune out everyone's (mainly Kirche's) anger-filled yells. She was quick to ask for it.

After putting away his weapon, and telling those shouting to shut it by ignoring them, with a softer demeanour, Viral began telling a tale. It was the tale of a man who continuously fought against destiny, willing to destroy himself and all he cared for to do it. His best friend, who trusted him with his life? Betrayed for the greater good, but to no avail. Yet, he was forgiven for his transgressions, against himself and his friend. After getting a good punch to the face, of course. And so, a new sun rose for that man as his friend saved the day before disappearing into the shadows forever. The man became the leader of their world, and under his reign, everything prospered. Until one day…

"But that is a story for another time. I need to get some shuteye." Viral said, yawning as he leaned back in his chair. "You know, you might just be the best listener I've ever had. Thanks for that." He added before dropping into the land of dreams, like the rest of their motley crew already had. It was only now that Tabitha noticed it. She had been so enthralled by the tale of President Forehead that she completely forgot about the existence of everyone else. Perhaps, that feeling…was it hope? Brooding over it, she muttered an incantation with the staff leaning on her shoulder as she closed her eyes for the night.

Thunder cracked outside, loud enough to jolt Siesta from her dream. Her eyes darted toward the entrance, where a shadowy figure was standing, staring out into the woods. She checked on the others, who were all dozing in their chairs, like she was just a second ago. The only one missing was Archie. Getting up from her chair, she silently crept toward the figure so as not to wake the others, and figuring it was Archie, tapped him on the shoulder.

" _Don't bother."_ Oh. He must've heard her getting up. These chairs made an awful lot of racket, whatever it was they were made of. It wasn't metal, wood, and must definitely not anything close to leather. She went up to his side, and stared out the opening, seizing up with every flash, which was followed up quickly with the rumbling of thunder. She doubted that she could sleep with the storm this close by. So Siesta, with all this time on her hands and nosiness in her blood, decided to take this chance to finally badger out the man's reason for being here.

" _I guess I do owe you an answer._ " He said, holding up a bronze pendant. _"This was Salvatore's, and contains a picture of his loved one. Or so I was told. I never actually checked, nor will I ever do that, or let anyone else, for that matter."_

" _But how will you find them?"_ His response was pointing at the beastman sunk in his chair, carelessly snoring the night away. Confused, she kept prodding. _"Sir Viral? How would he know…?"_

" _I have it on good authority that the storyteller known as Larive once helped Salvatore hide his wife in Tarbes. That's how."_

" _H-hide? Why would she need to hide?"_ The words chosen unsettled Siesta slightly. Just what would someone need to hide from?

" _Because of me."_ From Archie? No offense, but she doubted that he was terrifying enough to force someone into hiding. The sombre way he said it took her aback, however.

"… _what…?"_

" _Salvatore used to be a romalian knight. Heard of the Knights of Undine?"_

" _Of course! They were a travelling group of warriors that were tasked with helping those in need by the church!"_ They were famous throughout the lands for being honourable and just. Sorry, **actually** honourable and just. Those words became more and more meaningless as more and more nobles decorated themselves with them.

" _Exactly. I guess you'll need to know this, too. I was born into a family that served an albionese noble. The one from the stories."_ Again, she immediately knew who he was talking about.

" _You mean the Archduke that-"_

" _Was attacked by the King of Albion due to heretical practices? Yes, that's the one. The charges were complete horseshit, but the raiders didn't care. Every last soldier and servant, no matter how old or willing to fight was slaughtered. The only reason I survived was because I managed to hide in time. The fire, however…"_ He held up his scarred arm. _"It made one of the beams fall down right next to my hiding spot. I should be grateful, honestly. It's how I managed to get enough air to survive a few hours, which was when Salvatore pulled me out."_

" _B-but…! That doesn't have anything to do with his wife, r-right?"_

" _Siesta. If you saved a servant of someone branded a heretic, what would the church do?"_

" _I-I don't…"_

" _Yes, you do. You just don't want to accept it. Neither do I. Which is why I promised him eternal loyalty. He and his men were the only ones that stood by my side and defended me, even if it meant throwing away their livelihood. Once we got out of Albion, we went underground as mercenaries in La Rochelle."_ After being confronted like that, the only thing she could do was press further. Even if it meant asking obvious questions like…

" _The port? Why there?"_

" _It becomes much easier to hide in a place where people come and go like clouds. Anyway, Salvatore left us for about three weeks before we could carry on. We took on a few jobs here and there, and decided at one point that hiding in plain sight would be best. So we found a baron in some random germanian province and guarded his estate. It went well until a few months back, when our hirer croaked, because Germania is a giant cesspit of greed and betrayal. I'm actually surprised he made it that long. Anyway, after that, Salvatore insisted we go serve Count Mott."_

" _Why would he do that?"_

" _Something about the count living in an isolated corner of Tristain. We left for his estate soon after. It was easy enough to get hired, as he was running low on manpower at the mansion. I guess you know why."_ Yes, Siesta had overheard Colbert reading that sickening diary. She would rather forget it existed entirely. _"After the only servant disappeared three weeks after we arrived, we got a little suspicious. Everyone wanted out, but before we could, you showed up."_

" _And I know the rest?"_

" _Yeah. Unless you want to know what stuff Salvatore read in his free time. Stuff like ´Stirring her insides´. Not like you'd be into-"_ The rumbling of thunder did nothing to save his ears.

"I love that piece! The way the man stands up to the noble with all his heart, knowing that he must protect his pregnant lover, it's such a wonderful story!"

"Are you trying to wake them up?! Calm down!"

" _Oops. Sorry. I guess I got carried away when you mentioned my favourite."_ Favourite?! Perhaps Salvatore was wrong in calling this one a child. Scratch that. If that book was her favourite, then he shuddered to think what other things she read. That piece was among the more extreme ones to ´grace´ the market. He should stop thinking about it.

" _You guess?"_ He sighed. _"Whatever. Can you even read?"_

" _No, but my mother can. It was one of my bedtime stories."_ Oh. Well in that case, maybe she might still be a ragazza.

" _So she told you a story in which the main characters do…that? Really?"_ Actually…if this was **one** of her bedtime stories…

" _True…it might not be suited for children, now that I think about it."_

" _You think?!"_ She stuck out her tongue at him before going back to staring into the woods. He joined her in that, squinting at the flashes of light every now and then. After an eternity and a half, she spoke up.

" _Archie, would you mind letting me help you find his wife? I feel like I have to."_ He could hear the guilt in her voice, clear as day.

" _Fine. Under one circumstance. Don't take responsibility for his death. He called you ragazza for a reason. There was no blood on your hands in his mind. So don't besmirch his memory like that."_

" _Alright."_ Siesta spoke, before going back to her chair, feeling satisfied and tired from their conversation. As her back faded into the dark, Archie put the pendant back into his pocket, sighing at the incredibly stressful memories being stirred up again as well as the idea of that book, and all it…entailed. Geez, everything he thought sounded dirty when he put it in the same sentence. He was never the best at handling physical proximity to anyone, really, but women especially. Call him shy if you want, he called it healthy disthrust. Wait, that wasn't supposed to come out like that…! He banged his head against the wall to stop the pain. Well, it was a nice attempt, but now he bore both the embarrassment and the sensation of literally running into a brick wall.

" _Salvatore, I think I found the person who'll take over your job of making my head a disorganized mess. So you can stop worrying about my life being simple."_ Something soft hitting the back of his knee then did what the wall couldn't, and distracted him from his thoughts. Sighing, he sat down cross-legged, and let Chaplin curl up in his lap. _"Sorry that we woke you up, bud."_ The dog snorted mockingly at that, and closed his eyes. Archie watched the steady up and down of his back, and realized that his eyelids were becoming heavier the longer he looked at it.

Shaking his head, he did the best he could to stay awake. Standing guard was his job. But at the same time, the temptation to sleep was beginning to overwhelm his senses. His fight against his instincts became harder and more desperate by the second; he wanted to make at least half a decent contribution to the party. A furry tail smacking his chest made him snap out of it. Smiling, he thanked his friend, and gave in. Chaplin turned his head toward the entrance, taking over the first shift. He might not be able to smell any intruders through the rain, but his nose did pick up on something else in the air a second ago. He didn't like it one bit; hoping his nose was simply playing tricks on him, he lowered his head onto the fool's thigh. Not that it was comfortable, there was too little fat to properly rest, but it'll do.

Archie was woken by another tail whip. Grunting, he opened his eyes, and was surprised to find the sunlight shining outside. He blinked first, then looked at the snoring dog in his lap. "Don't worry, he got his fair share of sleep." It was also certainly unexpected to find the storyteller himself sitting next to him. After he settled down, he glanced behind him to find the rest of the group sleeping. Now followed the questions.

"So you took over a shift?"

"Yeah. Dog was real persistent 'bout it. What's his name?"

"Chaplin. Say, could you tell me a story?"

"Sure. It's kind of my job." Came the answer from the beast's mouth as he began aimlessly carving spirals into the wet rock. Archie prepared for tension as he spoke a name feared and respected throughout Tristain.

"According to the Lion, you once helped a man called Salvatore hide his wife from the church right here, in Tarbes. Tell me her name." Naming that person made Viral stop in his tracks, before continuing again, albeit the carvings were thicker and deeper.

"And why should I tell you?"

"Because of this." He held up the pendant, and the slit eyes widened.

"I see. So the crazy bugger died. Shame. He was such a sucker at cards that he funded entire nights at the bar." His tone didn't match the words he spoke, and the man was all too aware as to why. Speaking with the Lion meant to be a part of his family. And if you messed with his cubs, then the father would tear you to shreds.

"Sounds like him, all right."

"Just do me a favour. Once all is said and done, don't ever speak that name in front of me again. Got it?" Archie couldn't guarantee anything. The Lion was whimsical with his favours. But it seemed as if he had no choice in this regard. Like with the favours he'd undoubtedly have to deal with in the future.

"If it means I get to put Salvatore's soul to rest, I'll do it. Now spit it out."

"Alright. Her name was-" Apparently, someone was still a horrible listener, as evidenced when Viral was cut off once more.

"Hey, I am the only one feeling that?" The two glared at Kirche for a second, but then they took notice of it too.

"…tremors? The hell is causing these?"

"Probably whatever is behind that smoke." As Archie shot up, stirring Chaplin from his sleep, the dog's hairs stood up. So his nose had been right all along. That smell, that pungent smell of foreboding death that just took over his nostrils every time it was near. War was upon them.

 **Well. I busted out that invasion quicker than a hentai protagonist would his dick. Though I wonder, considering this is a surprise attack with what equates to bombers, would it be alright to be compared to Pearl Harbor? Tristain got Pearl Harbor'd. Actually, since the invasion happened in Tarbes, it might be better to call it Tarbes'd. Tristain got Tarbes'd. Oh yeah, and that whole "Everyone Kamina ever knew and loved is dead" thing. And that little detail about "His partner is nowhere to be found". This'll certainly be an interesting sequence of chapters to follow.**

 **Bye!**


	22. Chapter 22

**I wish all of you a wonderful 2019!**

 **That's it. What, expected more? Too bad. Reviews!**

 **Roboman: Snake? [Dun, dun, da-da-dun, DUN!** **DUN! DUN!]? Leader with one eye? Metal Gear reference?**

 **Lone Commentor: Wtf indeed. Enjoy knowing that the entire cast you know and loved is gone. Forever. Or not. Nah, it is, just messing with you. Or am I?**

 **Don Orbit: Perhaps that's what he'll do. Or he'll let Kamina rest for a while. His mind, after all, is not as good as digesting stuff as his stomach.**

 **gurrent123: I will, don't worry.**

 **Now then, without further ado, let's start 2019 off with a bang!**

„Louise, you're flying." Wardes got no response, but that was to be expected. His wife had no control over her body, and that obviously included her tongue. He had propped her up on the wooden dragon head beneath the bowstring, allowing her lustreless eyes to take in the landscape of the country he once served. From her little perch they looked like ants, so easily squashed beneath her feet if she willed it. Embracing her, he put his chin on her head, and absorbed the view himself. He would've almost found the scene peaceful, were it not for the war Cromwell was waging with the very airship they were standing on. The leader of Reconquista had even brought a choir chanting verses from the Founder's scripture to the rhythm of the cannon fire, just to let the peasants of Tarbes know that they were sacrifices on the path to the Holy Land.

"Sir." Annoyed from being interrupted in his thoughts, he brandished his blade and sent a jolt through the soldier up on the bowstring. Knowing that screaming would only spell further pain, the man did his best to keep his mouth shut. Wardes rewarded him by floating up with his wife and walking past him, having a good guess as to what he had to say. "Cromwell has asked for you, Sir."

"I know. Get back to your post." He didn't need to say that twice, as the soldier limped over to the cannons. Perhaps he put too much power into that spell. Not that he cared. The soldiers were tools to command; and a good commander needs to guide these tools with a strong hand, lest they get out of hand. Discipline was the key to leadership. But sometimes, you need to go a little further than simple discipline. When someone strays from the path that would lead them and the world to greatness, then the hand needed to adorn a ring, with a gem that showed them the way. "Cromwell." Wardes spoke as he entered the cabin, leading Louise in after him.

"Excellent timing, Wardes. Come, take a look. Our army has just arrived in the village." The man calling himself a reincarnation of the Founder almost seemed excited as he stared out the window and at the chaos down below. Ignoring the woman in the corner, the former captain of the Griffon Knights joined Cromwell, though contrary to him, Wardes didn't feel anything when he saw the mass of men flooding into Tarbes, leaving no doubt about whether it would rape and pillage the small town to pieces. The ants were running away, meanwhile, but the flood would soon catch up to them, as their most likely escape route, the forest to the north, was completely enveloped in smoke from the cannon fire. Balling his hand into a fist, he glanced at the man beside him, first at his face, sporting a haughty smile, then at his hand, wearing the very ring he spoke of. Wardes briefly left his side and gave his wife a kiss on the forehead, before walking her to a corner of the room further away from the window.

He left her in a potted plant's good hands. It was certain type of thorny underbrush with spotted brown flowers that grew only on Albion. If he remembered it correctly, it symbolized sacrifice in poetry. Not that he was an expert in that regard anyway. Upon turning around again, he came face to face with the back of Cromwell. It was incredible just how little the man seemed to suspect anything. Drawing his blade, Wardes shot the woman in the shadows a look. She seemed pretty apathetic to what was happening. Naturally. All she cared about was serving the King of Gallia, who had been quite generously paying for this little performance of Cromwell's. Well, soon, this little circus will no longer be under either of their control, though one of them won't be alive to witness it. He walked over to the walking corpse, the weak, disgusting insect that dared to take the name of Brimir lightly.

"Cromwell." The man in question turned around, and immediately began to panic as his mind caught on to what was about to happen. His hand shot up, ready to cast the ring's spell over his captain, but it was too late. It fell to the ground, limp, blood pooling from the wrist. The cries of pain were silenced by lightning shooting through his mouth, ripping his muscles out of his control.

"Shut up. You're disturbing my wife." His former captain had already slipped off his leather glove and put on the Ring of Andvari. Before Louise, aware of her surroundings for but a second, could do anything, he let willpower flow into the jewel, and off she went, back into hibernation. Now that the important part was dealt with, he decided to show this wretch the difference in their power up close. He would never match Louise, but square level healing spells, that was simple, he thought as he fused the hand back to the wrist, although he left the man mute. Brutalizing somebody was a means to an end; taking pleasure in it was a sign of weakness.

"I've been waiting for this moment for so long." Said the potted plant who had kept tabs on his wife up till now. The earth in said pot began to shift, eventually taking the form of a woman that was all too familiar to everyone in the room, including Louise, who just barely could make out what was happening. Under Cromwell, she was basically sleeping, but it seemed as if Wardes' inexperience in using the ring allowed her to keep her senses to a small degree. She just couldn't act on them. But this person, she remembered her as Matilda, Osmond's secretary (and victim of constant panty-peeking, curtesy of Chuchu). Her husband, though, called her by a different name.

"Fouquet, I take it that my side of the deal is fulfilled?" This woman was Fouquet? Louise's mind was too hazy to process that fact, so all she could do was listen to the response.

"Fulfilled? No. Our deal was for me to keep the girl safe in exchange for a chance to get back at this bastard. This is not a chance – you're serving me his head on a silver platter. And I could not be more thankful. Oh, and no hard feelings for me killing the priest that arranged your marriage?"

"His wellbeing is not my concern. What matters more to both me and you is me taking over Reconquista and this here." He waved his wand about, and from Cromwell's desk flew an important looking piece of paper. It landed in her hand, and upon reading it, was happy to find an order for those mercenaries to fuck off, signed by the writhing scum himself. How Wardes managed to make him sign it, she had no clue, but to be honest, she could care less. Slipping it into her robe, the relief about her home no longer being at stake was indescribable. However, her face never betrayed it, as there was an emotion she was far more inclined to show Cromwell. Her pure, unadulterated rage.

"Perfect. Now, if you don't mind…" The sound of earth crumbling alerted everyone, including the half-lucid Louise, to the presence of a golem. "I will show you, Cromwell, why my runic name used to be Matilda of the Fertile Soil." However, their assumption was wrong; it wasn't an earthen golem that was forming. The plant, still in the pot, began growing rapidly, with its thorns sticking out of the branches like hooks. It was almost like a living being, wanting to grab the helpless man and tear him to shreds. Without another word, Wardes made Louise close her eyes and created a current of air to deflect the incoming sound of agony. As he went to open the door for them both to head back on deck, he was stopped by that woman, whose alien eyes stared him down with a look that screamed _"It's treason, then."_

"My master won't be pleased about this, Wardes."

"I have better things to do than worry about a madman."

"I would argue that it is you who is mad, Wardes. You are making an enemy out of the mightiest man in the world."

"He won't bear that title much longer. Now leave our ship."

"…interesting. Perhaps he'll find some amusement in your little charade, after all, Wardes." And just like that, the woman was gone, leaving behind only a hardly noticeable scent of flowers. She pulled this vanishing trick every time she went to report to her master. Adjusting his feathered hat, he muttered to himself that she shouldn't speak his name so lightly; after all, her master's interference wouldn't change anything. Cromwell was crazy enough to try and start a crusade to wipe out the elves with nothing but the Ring of Andvari and the delusion of being a reincarnation of the Founder. He was different. He started a crusade to enslave the elves, with the Ring of Andvari and the reincarnation of the Founder himself at his side. All that was left was to open her eyes to that fact. In order to do that, conquering Halkegenia was the best move. If everyone bowed and cowered in front of her godlike power, then she'd realize what she had to do, what she _wanted_ to do. Bring a golden age to humanity by putting the elvish threat where it belonged: in the dirt, beneath her feet, squashed like an insect.

He led Louise back outside, and let Fouquet have her fun inside her soundproofed torture cabin. She was a master of stealth, she'd find some way to get off the ship unnoticed with the body. Meanwhile, he told the quartermaster of the ship that Cromwell was having some time for himself, so he was not to be disturbed under any circumstances, unless it was under the temporary commander's authority. Which, obviously, was Wardes himself. He'd later leverage Cromwell as a martyr, and fabricate his last words to set Louise up to be his successor, which would be aided by a display of her power. For that reason, he'd already made arrangements.

"Sir, the Tristanian fleet is inbound from the south." He checked the sun. Right on schedule. "Should we open fire?"

"No need. Louise will handle it." The messenger seemed perplexed.

"With all due respect…"

"If you are truly intending to show respect, soldier, then you will hold your tongue. Louise will handle those vessels. Have faith."

"Sir! She is but a child!"

"…I will acknowledge that she looks like a child, despite her age of seventeen. However, if there is another instance of you disrespecting me or my wife, and I'll see to it that you learn to hold your tongue." The restrained rage and glare made it quite clear that he didn't mean that in a metaphorical sense anymore. So the man did as he was told, and shut his mouth. "Also, stop wasting cannon balls. What use is there in bombing the countryside?" Obviously, he knew that Cromwell was an eccentric leader, to put it politely, so the reason for all that ammo being wasted was so the people of Tarbes had no escape, and/or because he thought of it as some sort of music heralding his arrival. Delusional fool. Which reminded him, he should get that choir to do some proper work, an order he gave the messenger before dismissing him.

"Sir!" With a salute, the man ran off before he could make another blunder and aggravate Wardes further. He'd heard the stories of men losing their limbs, by being severed off or getting paralysed, and worst of all, there were some who lost their senses, sight, smell, taste, mind, nothing was safe from this traitorous bastard. Everyone here knew the story by now. How ironic it was that the renowned Captain of the Griffin Knights would stab his own country in the back. The one who was said to be able to make a mighty, prospering nation out of weak, poor Tristain was the one to give it its last rites.

Once the couple was finally left in peace, Wardes smiled, and flew the two of them back to their little perch on top of the figure head. The sound of cannon fire subsided, and he could completely focus on the fleet ahead. It consisted of but five ships. It was still quite a threat, however, despite their size and age. Reconquista's ships had been stolen from the Loyalists back in Albion after their takeover, but many of them had been damaged or destroyed during that civil war. _"Louise, go ahead and show them the power of Brimir."_ He whispered in her ear as the gem on his hand twinkled in the sunlight.

Kirche, meanwhile, was rushing for the giant figure of Golem Lagann. The others were busy with evacuating the villagers, and, at Virals request, someone had to save the mecha at all cost; since the other mages all were better suited to rescue the commoners and Kamina was out of commission, it fell to her, as Siesta can't fly and every mage worth their salt knows a floating spell. However, she was rather annoyed at the fact that the others got to take Tabitha's dragon for the ride to Tarbes. She could've used the lift too! But no, the maid had to insist on going with them to grab her bag she left behind. What could possibly be so valuable she'd risk her life for it? Whatever. The germanian sighed as she arrived at the feet of the colossus.

Whipping out her wand, she made herself float up to the head. Upon landing on the shoulder, she faced a rather horrible predicament. She had Kamina's weird necklace, but she had no idea how to open the hatch on top to actually turn on the mecha. And she was neither in the mood nor had she the time to head back and ask. So she improvised. Whenever Colbert concocted another one of his weird machines for those experiments of his, there was usually failure inbound. However, one time during a presentation of just one of those contraptions, she, with her great germanian intellect, found a way to fix it. Perhaps here, too, it would save the day. She cracked her knuckles and put her hand on the hatch for balance before lifting her foot.

"My leg!" Turns out, kicking something that was harder than rock was a stupid idea. Leaning against the red cheek, she slid to the ground. Oh wait. Now with the pain having cleared her mind, she remembered. Colbert later told her that she had actually broken it. But she had been in an important conversation with that handsome third-year at the time, so she had shooed him away. "I wonder if he billed those geezers for that…" Well, not that it mattered, as she had better things to attend to. She groaned as she realized that the hatch was still shut. "Damn it. Just how the hell does this thing even open?!" She yelled, banging her hand against the metal. Her second cry of pain was interrupted by the sound of the hatch opening.

"Well, what do you know? Guess I am a machine whisperer after all." As she continued telling herself that with brimming confidence, she hopped in, and shoved the drill into its place. Then pulled it out, and put it back in. In. And out. In. And out. Okay, she should probably get on with it. In it went, and she gave it a nice twist…how would that feel like…oh, right, the Ganmen. She almost forgot. Following Viral's instructions, she grabbed the handles and tried to feel herself into the controls. A few moments passed without anything happening. Then another few. And a few more after that. This was starting to piss her off. "Come on, you stupid piece of junk! Move!" That did not work either. She felt a migraine coming up. She felt like rubbing her temple to ease the pain, but she had to figure out these damn controls. Groaning, she felt the desire to massage her head growing evermore.

Until the point where rock began scratching against metal. Blinking, she peeked her head out the still open hatch, and saw the giant arm rubbing Lagann's temple, with some parts of the fingers breaking off. She put two and two together. So all she had to do was feel like doing a certain movement, and the mecha would follow? Well shit, why didn't the furball just tell her that instead of all that "It's a projection of your self" stuff? Quickly, Kirche darted back into the head and retracted the arm. While she was at it, she attempted to shut the hatch. It worked. Finally, some progress. Upon the shutting of the hatch, the eyes of Lagann lit up in conjunction with the screen in front of her. It displayed a smoking Tarbes, with a small fleet of airships looming over it. The smoke of both the village and the soil, both bombarded to kingdom come, likely obscured the earthen giant. She wanted to take a closer look at Tarbes, but knew that she had to get the mecha out of sight first.

It accommodated her desire by zooming the image closer onto the entrance, revealing four human silhouettes vanishing into the war zone, whilst a fifth, significantly larger figure shot up to the skies. Somehow, Lagann also showed her the sounds echoing inside the village. Despairing screams, pleas for help, children's' cries for their parents as well as voices she knew and cared for. She wanted to help all of them so badly, but…hold on just a second. The germanian realized the situation she was in. A power was at her fingertips, a power so great that even the headmaster feared it. And here she was, deciding _not_ to use it? Why the hell would she even consider that?! Screw that beastman, it was far more important to force Evil to retreat than to save your own life! That's what he'd do, right? " _That's what Kamina would do…_ "

"But sometimes, Kamina is wrong."

"What the-" Hearing and seeing Viral on that screen was completely unexpected, to say the very least. He was in some dark room made of metal. Wherever it was, it wasn't in that cave, that was for sure. Regardless, she was at once fascinated and angry at him just popping in to stop her. "Well, you can't stop me. I will go to help." In turn, the face on the screen contorted into a terrifying, fangy grimace.

"If you go, and there is so much as a scratch on Lagann…let's just say that I am far more concerned about its wellbeing than yours. Now get back here. It is in both our interests that you don't put both of you at risk." Nevertheless, she kept up her resistance.

"But those people need help! If I don't go, then those evil bastards will mow them down!" His grimace turned into a thoughtful frown.

"Evil, huh?" What a stupid question.

"Yes, evil! Duh! Who else would be able to start such a war?!"

"I see you still have a lot to learn in life. So let me teach you about war. You don't let a weapon as valuable as Lagann sitting in the open, where the enemy can very easily destroy it. So be a good little girl, and bring it back." Kirche choked on her retort once she heard that accursed phrase.

"…yes. I'll be a good girl." She barely brought out, and made the colossus turn around. Her mind was completely blank as disgusting memories flooded her brain. She'd hoped to never remember this, but alas, life was agony, and so was the sound of Viral's voice, despite the fact it carried his relief and gratefulness.

"You better hurry, time's a cruel mistress."

" _Yes, I'll be a good girl."_ She whispered, before taking a huge step back to where she came from.

Meanwhile, the others had split up: Guiche headed for the northern frontlines, whilst Tabitha went alone toward the farther parts of the front, justifying her reckless move with the fact that she was the more skilled mage here, which left little room for debate from Guiche. He simply confirmed her claim to dispel anyone else's worries and left. So whilst those two were headed for the front, Siesta, Archie and most importantly Chaplin headed for her house, hoping to find her family safe and sound. Although that hope dimmed every second they drew closer to the sound of fearful screams, crackling fire and gleeful laughter.

"It's just around the corner…!" Siesta was so glad to find her home still standing, albeit the adjacent street was smoking too much for her liking. She rushed inside, and called for her family. It took a while, but her siblings did eventually come rushing out of hiding. "It's okay, I'm here now. Where are Mum and Dad?" She softly asked Richie, stroking his head, who, sniffling, told her that their father and Marteau had rushed toward the fires to help the townsfolk escape. Their mother, however, had gone shopping earlier that morning, and had yet to return. She shot Archie a look, who responded by tapping his wrist and shaking his head. No time to look for them, they had to get the kids out first. "Archie will take you to a safe place. You can trust him."

"A-and you, sis?"

"I'll go look for Mum and Dad." Siesta knew that there was a lecture coming on in just a second, so she shut the man's mouth with determined eyes. It was quite effective, so much so that he simply sighed and said that they should better get going. After picking up her bag, she left the house she grew up in at the man's increasingly insistent urging, knowing full well it'd be ash the next time she saw it. _"Goodbye…"_ She whispered into the burning breeze, before waving at her siblings being led back to Viral's cave and turning to head toward death.

Marteau had been searching this place for hours now, looking for Siesta's mother. He always had that nagging feeling at the back of his head that perhaps he had just barely walked outside of earshot of her cries and left her for dead. Or he didn't, and he left her for dead because the noise of this place had simply made the chef go deaf. Well, there was a nice rhyme he could teach the kid, if he got out of here alive. Which, looking at the charred remains lying everywhere, was not something that seemed likely. And when he said everywhere, he meant _everywhere._ They were in the street, under rubble; he even found one trying to extinguish itself in the well. Unfortunately, it had dried up due to all this heat. Just why the hell were they torching Tarbes anyway? It was literally pointless to do it – unless you wanted to send a message. And Marteau had a good guess as to what it was.

" _Resist, and this destruction will come to you."_

Didn't take a genius to figure it out, but to prevent _this_ from happening here required just that. The survivors had to be brought together whilst getting rid of the enemy: but he had no idea how to do either of those things. The chef cursed himself for lacking the one thing needed to save these people as he searched the next pile of cinders. Honestly, he was surprised that he hadn't encountered any soldiers yet. You'd think, with the street torched, they would be swarming all around him, but apparently, he was just that lucky that they didn't find him amidst all the smoke. Of course, the trade-off was that he didn't find any survivors either. And while there were screams for help every so often, they quickly devolved into a different kind of scream once the enemy found them before he could even turn toward that direction. Marteau was just thankful that he hadn't heard a woman yet. He was certain the sounds they'd give off before dying would weigh heavier on his mind than the men's.

"Get away from me!" He just had to jinx it, didn't he? Not only was it a woman's voice, but he knew the face it belonged to, too. Rushing towards the sound, he heard the first of undoubtedly many screams to come. He would not allow this woman to come to harm. The guilt he'd face at the Academy from day to day would kill him. After a few moments, his ears informed him that she was to his right now. Once he turned, a single silhouette in the smoke fell into his eye. Without hesitation, he charged at it, arm poised for a devastating punch. The screams stopped shortly after some facial bones cracked, like the wooden beams around them. "T-thank you." The mother of Siesta thanked him as he pulled her up, and he led her away from this chaos right away. On his way out, he surprisingly encountered Guiche, who himself had come to help the people of Tarbes. In the process, he had found a family who'd miraculously survived their home crashing on top of them, although the child was severely injured. They'd have to find Tabitha, who according to the blonde was also here, to treat these injuries.

"Impossible." As the noble in question spoke those words, they turned to find that their idea would not work out. She had managed to escort a dozen people away from the front, sure, but at the same time, her uniform was covered in blood. Some of it looked dry, but there was a spot on her shoulder that was still reflecting the tongues of fire around them. Guiche realized that Tabitha probably fought off soldiers to save these people, and she paid the price for it, physically, mentally and in her willpower. Killing someone took a lot of mental fortitude and cost a fair amount of willpower, but the sound of their death likely drew even more enemies near. Meaning that she was at her limit by now, and healing spells, at least in the scope they'd need, were out of the question.

"If only I had worked harder…I'd possibly be able to heal them." But that was out of the question now, meaning the group would have to work together to get themselves out of this hell. Having no other choice, he made the people on the ground form a circle, kneeled down in the middle and took command. "Alright, everyone, listen up. We'll have to move quickly. If we get found, we're dead. Marteau, how many can you carry?"

"Two adults and a kid, or four kids."

"Okay, who is injured to the point that they can't walk?" It was hard to see, but five people raised their hand. Drat. Just their luck. He made them move forward, and saw four adults and a child. The chef took two of them over his shoulders, and held the boy to his chest, all whilst still kneeling. Who knows how much he was straining himself to not make a sound. "Miss Tabitha, do you have enough willpower to levitate at least one of them out of here?" After a short test, she nodded, and the floating man did his very best to not let the shaky movements get to him. Even though he was barely a foot off the ground. Guiche got up, told them he'd take point, and let the last wounded person get helped by the woman Marteau saved, who was in relatively good shape.

Tabitha was right behind him as he crawled over to the corner of the street, listening for any enemies. _"Thank the Founder"_ , he thought, as it seemed they'd moved up a few streets by now. And with the smoke having lifted itself a bit by now, he had some decent vision when standing close to the ground. Then the airships must have stopped their bombardment, and the soldiers run out of firewood to torch. Peeking around the corner, he was relieved to find nothing, so he tapped the ground twice with a small rock. The others moved up with him to the next corner, repeating the process each time he gave them a signal. After three cycles, they were unfortunate enough to stumble upon two pairs of armoured legs. Warning the others, he then whipped out his wand and created a piece of metal further up the street.

" _Everyone, not a word."_ He ordered as it fell to the ground. Immediately, the soldiers turned around and headed toward the sound. Their breathing involuntarily stopped as the iron boots clung past them in a slow, torturous rhythm. Guiche felt his lungs become hotter and hotter as he struggled to hold his breath. The small pieces of wood and flesh in the air seemingly manifested physically inside them, and made it painful to continue. Not only that, but the boot hitting the ground right next to him scared him enough to nearly let it all burst out. But, with some miraculous self-control, he closed his eyes and grabbed his nose, refusing to make even a single noise. The steps stopped. So did his heart. He heard it scrape against the ground. Did it turn toward him…?

"Ugh, stepped in some shit. Hey! Leave a hole for me!" With that, the boots left. As they all but flew across the ground, he felt the burn becoming too much, and exhaled. Loudly. They stopped again. Drat. Dratdratdratdratdrat.

"You coming or what?"

"Yeah, must've imagined it. Guess I'm too eager to sample some more of Tarbes' hospitality."

Thank the Founder, the soldier did leave. Guiche let his lungs relax with long, deep breaths. He almost ruined it all. Though his mind was not calmed once he saw the "shit" that man stepped on. It was a severed tongue. He immediately covered it with a conjured piece of metal. Once everyone got themselves together, they went back to their routine, albeit far more carefully now after being spooked like that. Peek, knock, move up. Peek, lure, wait, knock, move up. Peek, knock, move up. Peek, knock, move up. Peek, see the distant green of the forest. He sighed in relief. Almost there. They just had to cross a few crossroads, and this nightmare would be over. So, after another routine of knocking and moving up, he peeked the corner, only to find himself torn at the sight of the shaking legs of a child, surrounded by three soldiers.

"Don't worry, kiddo. I'm sure we can find you a new set of parents."

"I want my mommy!"

"Oh, stop being a stick in the mud. Look, we'll even be nice and find you a rich family. You'll be a princess."

" _Scum."_ He muttered, but having no choice, he knocked, and they snuck down the street, doing their best to ignore their conscience. They were powerless to change anything regardless.

"…Mindy? Mindy!" No. One of the women stood up and ran toward the girl. She picked her up in her arms, and hugged her. The men seemed quite amused.

"What do you say? What kinda price would she fetch?"

"She's too old. Not even half as much as the girl."

"Oh well. I guess you have cattle that makes money with its milk, and then you have cattle that doesn't, and should be put down."

"But you should at least use its meat."

"Fair point."

"No! Please, let my niece go! I'll do anything, just leave her be!"

"Sure, we'll leave her be. We'll even find her a nice family. What they do, however, is out of our control."

"No! I beg you!" The soldiers just laughed.

"…" Guiche shot Tabitha a look.

"…" She understood, but shook her head. It was stupid. Sacrificing those two would be the smarter choice, he knew. But…was he really fine with offering those innocents up so he could get away? He realized that this situation was rather familiar. How often had he abandoned his responsibility and let someone else suffer because of it? It was him who said that he had changed. And now that he had a chance to prove it…he ran away? The promise he made to Louise and Kamina echoed in his mind.

" _I'm eager to meet this man."_

" **Damn it all."** He muttered, before hitting the ground twice with his rock and charging into the alley. He would never allow himself to fall back into his old ways. Summoning two Valkyries, he immediately took out one of them soldiers with a punch to his head, and stood protectively in front of the two. "Go! I'll handle this!" There was no discussion as the woman fled back to the group, who, with Tabitha in the lead, was they all running for their lives, the light at the end of the tunnel in sight. Turning back to the enemies, whose silhouettes were now clearly visible due to the smoke clearing more and more, the noble waved his wand, and created a shield for himself.

"Who the hell are you?" They asked. Glancing at the pool of blood forming beneath the man he'd just taken out, he saw a semblance of a reflection. This was it. This was the moment. Staring at it, he answered. Just who was he?

"My name is Guiche de Gramont. And I refuse to let you harm these people any longer. If you try, then you'll have to get through me from now on. So come on, break your weapons upon me. For I am their shield!" He yelled the last sentence loud enough to probably be heard by the commander on the airship, but he didn't care. The entire army on the ground would be heading toward him, but he didn't care. Bring it on, he thought as the first group of enemies drew their weapons.

The other group had meanwhile completely abandoned the idea of sneaking out of the town. There was no doubt that a few soldiers would hear them, but Tabitha's familiar was very close by, not even half a minute at full speed. So whilst they might get attacked on their minute-long run, they had at least that going for them. Surprisingly though, that time was completely devoid of any enemies. The sounds of fighting behind them were a good clue as to why. After reaching the exit, Tabitha hopped onto Sylphid, and levitated the injured boy and his mother onto her familiar's back with some difficulty. As the dragon carefully took the two most severely injured into its claws, she told the rest that it'd take a while before she'd be back for them, so they ought to hide for now. They did so behind some rubble that used to be a barn.

"Don't worry. We'll be safe soon. Just hold on a little longer…" The mother of Siesta whispered to her husband, who was doing all he could to keep his eyes open. He never was particularly strong, so why would he even consider going straight toward the fire? She knew the answer, which made it all the worse that she wasn't able to do the same for him. The one thing she hoped with all her heart was for her children to have escaped. She hadn't seen them again since she left for some groceries. And Siesta…where was she? Her daughter had promised to return yesterday, but she never returned.

"Aren't you Siesta's mother?" Her eyes shot up to find the young man from the day before standing over her. When did he…? "Have you seen her?" She shook her head. Why would she have seen her? Siesta wasn't in Tarbes when the raid began. Unless…! "She went to look for you while I was bringing the children to safety. You can stop worrying, they are with that storyteller. No soldier can get to them." Thank goodness for that, but her daughter was in danger! Standing up, she wanted nothing more than to turn around and go find her. However, Archie held her in place with one hand as he passed by her. "I'll go get her. If there is a chance for you to leave, do it. Don't wait for us." The next second, he vanished into the smoke, closely followed by his black dog. She wanted to run after him so bad, but hearing her husband moan on the ground finally stopped her. His burns were not as bad as some of the others', but it was clear that he was in great pain. Sitting back down, she went to comfort him, before being stopped in her tracks again.

This time by an enormous, deafening light from the east, where someone had claimed a minute ago to have seen the Tristanian fleet.

At the same time, in a dark cave, a man with blue hair opened his eyes.

"…Louise…?"

 **So yeah, remember what I said at the end of chapter 19? This is where it begins. Where will it end, I wonder. Perhaps this will change the fate of Halkegenia forever. Maybe it'll just end with one or two individuals surviving, but won't affect the story as a whole. It's a crossroads, but which path will I take? Well, that is something we shall find out over the next few chapters. Bye!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hello, everyone. Now, you may be wondering why this next review answering will be a little shorter than expected, as technically, there has been a fuck ton of reviews since the last chapter. Well, allow me to explain by talking straight to the reviewer.**

 **GrumpyGrue: I will be absolutely honest. If you write another review that blatantly ignores all the work I've put into these characters and just go "lol Louise is a rich bitch that can never grow" or "Zerbst thirsty 4 dat furry dick", I will delete it. Most of your reviews are incoherent nonsense if viewed in front of the backdrop that is my story, and only make sense if one reads yours. So either you accept how I interpret and develop these characters/evolving the plot and criticize/comment on that, or get out. Frankly, I don't want my story to be read by someone with such disrespect for the work I've put into these characters. Sure, some of them are shit (looking at you, every character up till chapter 13), but the work is still there. Also, I do know the implications of "make out". That's why I sodding wrote it. Additionally, from an Aussie friend of mine to you, the way "cunt" is pronounced is basically the same as in every other form of English, [kʌnt].**

 **Sorry about that, those 15-odd reviews really riled me up. But back to jolly and happy crab. Let's go! Oh, wait. This is a chapter in the Tarbes arc. Yeah…this ain't gonna be pretty. Let's go, I guess.**

Louise had never felt this cold before. Never could she have even begun to imagine the level agony that was assaulting her. It was like hundreds and hundreds of bullets the size of a fist piercing her skin every second. After staying inside her for a while, they eventually dissipated, although they left behind those tiny, concentrated specks of cold. And albeit she had no control over her body, the pain from those sensations made it shake in Wardes' embrace, who was guiding her wand-wielding hand to point at the airships in the distance. At least, at those left after the explosion. _Her_ explosion. The Tristanian fleet, almost entirely eradicated from existence because of her spell. Her undying loyalty to Tristain meant nothing now. This was a disgrace to the Vallière name, one that she should, and would die for. She thought to hear her fiancé speak again. _"Once more, Louise."_ Anything but that. Please, she tried to beg him, don't make me do it again. Trying to shoulder the guilt would crush her to pieces. When casting that last explosion, it'd felt like her very soul was being destroyed under an immense force, the very same plaguing her right now.

But her meagre attempts at resistance failed as her body wouldn't do as she said, demanded, asked or begged. Wand pointed at one of the remaining airships, which had been off to the side of the fleet, thusly escaping the blast, the only thing she could do was pray for forgiveness. _"Explosion."_ She heard herself distantly say, and within an instant, the people on that ship perished. Whilst her eyes were hit by light that was only rivalled by the sun in the sky, _they_ arrived. The waves of cold pressure that threatened to obliterate what little she had left of herself. However, this time, there was something alongside them.

" _I want to go home to Mum!"_

" _I want to marry!"_

" _I want to meet my child!"_

" _ **I WANT TO LIVE!"**_

Screams. So many regrets rained down on her, and the breeze they were floating on still carried faint hints of so many hopes and wishes, gone now, extinguished like the flame of a candle. Before, they'd been drowned out by their own sheer numbers, but now that there were fewer voices, she could understand them; this visceral assault hit her body harder than anything else she'd ever seen, heard or felt. These cries were genuine, and thusly genuinely terrifying. The heckles and sneers of her bullies were nothing against the suffering she'd inflicted on these people, who were now rightly returning the favour. And to think that this was but a single ship; she shuddered to think the many voices that cried into the void, without her even being able to understand them.

After what felt like an eternity, everything turned to white noise, something she was thankful for, albeit it only worsened the cold now that she was truly alone with that horrible weight on her heart. Her vision noticeably shook along with her entire body, enough to seemingly draw Wardes' attention away from thin air. _"Dear, you seem to be cold. Here, have my coat."_ Something big and heavy was draped around her shoulders, pressing her cape onto her back. It did nothing to ease her out of this cold, dark abyss however. Instead she now felt like she was encapsulated in a silky cocoon inside the all-consuming darkness, she was still freezing, but had a protective shell against anyone reaching out to her to pull her out. _"One last time, love. Let everyone peer into the Void, into_ your _Void."_ What…? Wasn't that claim heretical…? Those meagre excuses for thoughts were forgotten as her hand pointed the wand at the very last, turning ship of her homeland.

Archie was still reeling from the first blast when the second reached his ears. Cowering on the floor, he waited out the last of the triplet of explosions, and after it had apparently passed, he dared to peek out from beneath his thick cloak. Whereas he was basically blind before, now his sight was completely clear. The shockwaves of whatever that was must've blown out the fires and the smoke away. Though unlike the air, the coast was about as clear as it was earlier. Thankfully, unlike him, those idiots hadn't had the foresight to cover their eyes and ears with their handy-dandy cloak at the first sight of danger, so they would be out of commission for a minute or two. In the meantime, Archie would've already vanished into the shadows. Something he immediately did after lifting the wincing Chaplin onto his shoulders, in his search for that stupid girl.

" _Where the hell did ya go, Siesta?"_ He thought to himself as he danced through the ruins and between the slowly awakening soldiers, constantly on the lookout for that rare black hair. However, after a good few minutes of fruitless searching, he lost hope. There was simply no way that he'd find her before these bastards, who were now fully lucid, and there was also no way that he'd ever be able to take on even a single one of them in combat. Glancing at the shape of his scarred arm inside his cloak, his frustration only grew further as he remembered Salvatore's words from way back when.

" _Sorry,_ ragazzo _, but that might never fully heal, not even with magic. That thing struck directly at your bone and burned it too; maybe it'll even get stuck like that."_ Damn the church. Damn Brimir. And most of all, damn those nobles that took everything from him. At least no one else had noticed his horrid abomination of a limb. The only reason he even showed it to Siesta in the cave was because she was half-asleep in a dimly lit room. Honestly, he kind of regretted his dumb decision in hindsight. He had been quite tired, too, and he let his mouth running get the better of him. Well, he would not make such a blunder a second time; he didn't want her to look at him the way everyone else did once they saw his arm. The only ones that didn't judge him were the other Knights of Undine – his mates. Peeking around the next corner, he pushed those thoughts aside for later with a clenched fist.

Good, the way out was somewhat clear. Getting through these guys would be a piece of cake even if they were awake, just looking at the way they carried themselves. These were no soldiers, simply farmers or something of the sort, recruited as cannon fodder with promises of zero oversight. An easy way to gather a large army, sure, but not exactly an efficient one. Archie had already crossed three streets by the time one of them thought to have seen someone in the first. He was almost cocky enough to whistle at this point, it was that pathetically easy. Although a furry whip hitting him in the face discouraged him from doing so. Since the dog had apparently recovered, Archie kneeled down and put him back on the ground. Not wasting a single second, Chaplin sniffed the ground, and the man nearly smacked himself for forgetting how useful the nose of a dog was in a search. The animal's eyes shot up a few moments later, and after softly barking to get his attention, ran off. Since the dog probably wouldn't get that much attention from these men anyway, Archie just went after him a corner at a time, constantly following the prints in the ashes.

"Did ya see that? Seems like we have a prowler on the loose."

Shit. He immediately dove around the next corner to shake off the guys that spotted him. However, it was this point that the world decided to deliver some karma onto him for his earlier arrogance, and made him trip whilst his eyes were still on the corner his pursuers would turn in a second. Although his landing was quite soft, surprisingly. Cursing as he got up, he froze once he saw what horrible waters he'd dived into. So that's why his mother taught him to check the waters before jumping in, lest he get scalded. Or, to apply it to his current dilemma, he should've looked around the corner before running around it and tripping over Siesta's bag onto…Siesta. And worst of all, he had the greatest luck to fall with his face directly in her…at least it wasn't…

His mind ceased to function. He couldn't react to anything, not even the dog's growls toward the men turning the corner.

"Well, well, what have we here?"

"A young couple, going at it on the corpses of their friends and family. It's almost romantic, isn't it, son?"

"I actually think it's disrespectful toward all these dead people. Punish them, pops."

"Whatever you say."

Chaplin just barely jumped up in time to bite the older man's hand, making him yell out a wide variety of Albionese curses as he dropped his weapon. Eventually, he managed to shake his arm hard enough to fling the dog toward Archie, knocking him off of the unconscious maid. Grunting, the man picked up his weapon with his bleeding hand, and went over to the dog.

"Stupid mutt."

The loud wincing of the animal then caused Siesta to awaken. Shocked, she dipped her finger into the liquid that dripped from Chaplin's face onto hers. It was blood. The soldier was about to slash the dog's face again before he was stopped.

"Hands off my dog." Archie had somehow snuck behind the other one, and was holding his dagger to the man's throat. Additionally, Archie had that little trick up his sleeve: quite literally up his sleeve, as he was pressing a certain ring against the man's back. Naturally, the idiot thought it was a gun, and was too afraid to move, looking to the older man for help. The one holding Chaplin stared at the scene for a minute. Eventually, a grin spread on his face.

"Go ahead. Slice his throat." Everyone was taken aback, especially the one whose life was at stake.

"What's that supposed to mean?! I'm your daughter's fiancé! You can't do this!"

"Oh, but I can. I never approved of your relationship, you know? So this'll be a nice opportunity for me to finally rid myself of you, you disgusting parasite. Instead, I'll have her marry that baker. He's a good lad, unlike you."

"You son of a bitch!" Archie watched the scene with a mix of shock and opportunistic joy in his eyes, before whispering something into the ear of his victim. Who still didn't dare to move a muscle, even though he'd very easily be able to break out of this hold, and Archie knew that. So he made him an offer, and with glee, his victim accepted. "Of course! Now let me at him!" The man was free to go, and immediately drew his weapon to slice his future father-in-law to pieces, who dropped the dog in favour of killing his future son-in-law. Archie, meanwhile, had already helped Siesta stand up and heaved Chaplin back onto his shoulders before fleeing the scene. No need to stick around when more of these bastards are likely to show up soon.

"Archie, how…" She was cut off by his restrained voice.

" _Shut it and go. I'm not about to let my mates' sacrifice be in vain."_ She shut it and went, doing her best to ignore the sounds of an ever-growing brawl brewing behind them and the blood dripping onto his cloak.

Meanwhile, near the edge of town, Guiche was nearing his limit. There was seemingly no end to his enemies, all coming at him with unrestrained savagery. Blocking their attacks was relatively simple, as their technique was sloppy and his was at least passable. The blonde never thought his father's training would actually pay off, but it did. _Read their body language_ , his father used to say, _yield them the space they have to take, but strike before they reach the space they want_. In other words, if an enemy tried to attack him head-on, Guiche parried back a little, then, once his foe was usually emboldened, he would immediately step forward and bash them with his shield. Against the few that didn't fall to this strategy, he used his weapon as intended and blocked their attacks before exploiting an opening that presented itself through their failure. They were never mentally ready for a counter-attack, so he exploited that with a bash to the face. Most of them dropped to the floor in one hit, whether it was the shock or his arm was just that muscular, was not his concern. All he cared about was the fact that there were less people to fight.

Of course, as this was not a duel, there were constantly others trying to stab him in the back, which he had to deal with by summoning his Valkyries. Unfortunately, it was hard for him to fight on both ends, so they ended up mostly as a heap of scrap once they were ganged up upon. And whilst he didn't use that much willpower earlier, he could only create so many distractions before he would inevitably get overwhelmed. It was a lesson he painfully learned shortly after knocking out another enemy, when something was thrust right through his right shoulder. Crying out, he instinctively pushed his palm against the place where the spear would inevitably poke out, but that turned out to be a mistake as well when the weapon went through his hand like butter. It felt so incredibly hot inside his body, as if the weapon itself was on fire.

A boot was pressed against his back, and he was shoved off of the spear like this was a spit roast. Groaning and falling to his knees, the only thing he mustered the energy to do was listen to his instincts and plug the hole in his chest. He had no choice but to let go of his shield and stop the bleeding with his other hand. Upon trying to move his injured hand, he found it to be extremely difficult, not to mention painful, to move his fingers. Did that attack pierce every single one of the bones in his palm? He turned his hand to see, and his stomach informed him that those white pieces protruding from the hole were supposed to be connected.

"How the mighty fall." The noble heard someone gloat, presumably the one to kill him in a moment. "´I am their shield´, he said. Now look at him." A kick to the back of his head knocked him to the ground. "One hit, and he tosses aside his shield. How pathetic." As he went to turn his head to not breathe in the ashes, the boot hit the side of his head, and his pained yells were drowned out by the scraping on his ears. "Typical nobles. Big mouth, but nothing to back it up. The second there is any risk to them, they back out." Another stomp. "Does little blondie want to go home to mommy now?" And another. "Or will he stand up and fight?" The boot was lifted again, and Guiche flinched in preparation for the next bang against his skull. It didn't come. Instead, he felt it getting shoved between him and the ground before flipping him over. He could now see his attacker.

A tall, muscular man with a moustache and brown, yet very odd hair. It was about as long as Kamina's, but unlike him, this man had his hair standing on edge as if electrified. He wore a dark red coat adorned with a few gold pieces here and there, and Guiche recognized a medal his father said were reserved for very high society, as in dukes and members of the royal family. The man's face was heavily decorated with an eyepatch and an arrogant smirk, and in his left hand, he was twirling a bloody spear, made entirely of iron. Certainly explained why it felt like it burned its way through the noble's flesh. Once the man's boot was lifted above him, all of his thoughts were thrown aside to allow his instincts to take over and hold his uninjured hand protectively above his head. He soon found out just how fatal a mistake it was. His face wasn't the target, but the hole in his chest. The stomp was more painful than anything he'd ever experienced. So much hate, so much sadistic joy was in that attack, it hurt his head more than the throbbing from the constant stomping. He moved his hand onto the wound as the boot shot up for another crushing dose of pain.

"What a stupid question. All they are good for is lies and abuse." It almost felt like the stomp was eroding Guiche's hand itself through the sheer hate the man put into it. "And then they wonder why people become criminals to spite them. Like that Fouquet guy." He had his eyes shut, but the pain gave him an almost clear image of those horrid feelings, those black tendrils that tore apart anything they came across. "Or us before we turned clean. Well, as clean as you can get in this world, am I right fellas?" The blackness spread past the pitiful defence of his hand and slipped into his wound. "Anyways, Mr Shield, I think it's time for you to go." He could already feel it expanding within him, this unyielding rage, this unyielding hate. He would not die here. He wanted to live. He needed to see Marteau's proud face when he finally reached the other side of the plank. He needed to fulfil his vow to his saviours. But most of all…he needed to apologize to Montmorency.

"…no…"

"What was that?"

"…I…won't…die here…"

"Well, bugger me. And how exactly will you accomplish that, when I can squash you beneath my boot like the disgusting rat you are?" He got no response, only a glare. "Even that was just a lie. Figures." The man went to crush him beneath his boot again, but this time, Guiche seized his chance. Grabbing his shield with his now free hand, allowing the blackness to freely flow into and through him, he tossed it into his torturer's face, knocking him off-balance. Immediately after, he got up as quickly as he could, and picked up the shield in the process. Panting heavily, he stared into the stunned man's eyes with his shield raised. "That bloody hurt." The man's second stab was the only one in their short duel. It pierced through the shield and his abdomen, however, his foe was not satisfied with that. In his furious charge that lasted what felt like a minute, he ran into a stone wall, causing multiple of Guiche's bones to make incredibly unhealthy sounds. It was over now. All he had left now was being pinned to this wall in his raging, hateful and unfulfilled existence until he bled out. The only thing he mustered to do was glare at his killer, who himself gave him a look that was even darker and grimmer than his.

"Nail." A voice cut through the dark, and Guiche blinked. Marteau, in a crimson coat he'd never seen the chef wear before, stood over a dozen unconscious enemies, most of which the noble didn't even touch. His knuckles were bloody. His tormentor turned, and upon seeing the chef's stern face, was apparently astonished, if the short, disbelieving gasp was anything to go by. "If this is what you meant by ´turning clean´, I think I'm happy you shoved me off our ship." He went on, and began stepping over the bodies closer to them, all the while being stared at by the other dozen enemies that were still alive, with the same expression as what Guiche assumed now to be their leader.

"Marteau!? How the hell are you alive?!"

"A kind old man helped me survive the fall." A certain headmaster came to mind. "But is this really what you thought Father wanted us to do? Slitting throats and stealing others' hard earned livelihood?" The man now revealed as Nail huffed and waved him off, Marteau's accusatory tone not fazing him in the slightest.

"Like you can talk. You did the same thing when you were the boss, after all." Boss…?

"…yes, I did. But tell me, Nail. You told me that I never understood Father's wish." Father…? Wait, were these two…"He wanted us to be happy. So, are you happy, Nail? You don't look like it." This time, the other man facepalmed, and audibly groaned before answering.

"Idiots never learn, do they? Don't you remember what he always told us? ´Happiness comes in small packages´." He began sounding more frustrated with every word that left his mouth. "So, _obviously_ , we can only be happy by taking those packages for ourselves! After all, that's why we became criminals in the first place, right, Marteau?" C-criminal?! Marteau?! He didn't seem offended by the accusation, instead all but confirming it with his answer.

"Nail. Did you ever consider what being a criminal truly means?"

"It means rejecting society by breaking its rules and showing those that created it and them the disrespect they deserve." He raised his arms, as if asking to be challenged. "Or are you telling me that I'm wrong? Wrong about the way I lead my life?" The chef obliged.

"Yes, you are. Being a criminal simply means being free from the system; what one does with that freedom is entirely up to oneself. I decided that giving others joy we stole from those too fortunate would be my crime." Wait, the teen thought, that's just like one of his Gallian picture books! What was that story called again…Robbin' Hoods? It was right on his tongue – but Marteau's words made it slip back down his throat. "Now look at you. From a pirate sailing the clouds, fallen to being a lapdog of those we hate. I'll ask you again. Are you happy?" Guiche's mind was officially boggled from the implications. Sure, there had been a few times where Marteau had used some pretty odd phrases, but a full blown pirate? Never would the blonde have imagined that in his wildest dreams.

"I couldn't care less if you think what I do and think is right or wrong. But I will answer your question – no. No, I'm not happy in the slightest." Nail pulled his spear out of the wall and noble, who tumbled to the ground in a powerless heap, then levelled his gaze at his nemesis. "Not until I've killed you again for defiling Father's words, Hammerarm." Hold on. That name sounded familiar. Yes, now he remembered. It was the name of an infamous pirate captain, also known as the Scourge of the Clouds. Guiche couldn't recall the name of the pirates, but he did know that they robbed and killed many a rich merchant trying to cross over onto the mainland from Albion. However, that stopped many years ago, before he even entered the Academy.

"If that is how this has to end…then I accept your challenge, brother." As Marteau spoke those words, all the remaining men formed a circle around the two, stomping and chanting in a rhythm. To the noble, it almost seemed tribal or barbaric in nature. He then recalled overhearing his father a long time ago in a discussion with one of his captains that it was a pirate tradition; the Royal Institute's best guess as to its origins were the stories surrounding the oldest recorded pirate ever, a man that was remembered on many days to almost be caught, who had friends in some quite _uncivilized_ parts of the world, to the far west, across the ocean. If a pirate is challenged by another, for whatever reason may be, the two would battle it out, one on one, surrounded by the rest of their comrades singing a very old song, taught to the legendary captain that was as elusive as an unladen swallow (though if Halkegenian or Elvish, he didn't know) by his uncivilized companions, and passed on from pirate to pirate. Does this mean that all of these people singing were part of a band of pirates Marteau used to lead?

After a while, the chant began to escalate. Slowly but surely, it was climbing and climbing in intensity. Every verse was faster and louder than the last, albeit still in an incredibly deep range, almost guttural. It was almost like every second that passed, they let their spirit a little more loose. The faces of the combatants told the whole story. Both of them stared each other down with ever-growing determination in their eyes and tension in their bodies, completely prepared to bring down their kin at any moment. A spear was tapped against the ground impatiently at the same time as knuckles were cracked in anticipation. The chanting grew more intense as the seconds ticked by, and Guiche's perception began to narrow more and more as the rest of the world was blotted out by the clash of souls that was to take place. Then, after one last, heavy stomp and a sound that was so deep it felt like it resonated with even the outsider's heart, the men fell into silence and the brothers began their battle. Their last, the battle of their lives – and they faced it with grim, blood lusting eyes.

Far away, in a room of metal, Viral sighed as he heard the banging on the roof. Knowing exactly who it was, he opened the hatch, and down flopped Kamina, flat on his face. _Great entrance_ , he wanted to sarcastically comment, but stopped himself. The man before him was already down on the ground, no need to kick him too. However, Kamina seemed…different to what he expected him to act like after finding out his friends, love and family had all fallen victim to the passage of time. He carried himself like he was on a mission, and his mission right now was to demand where the Core Drill was.

"That? The loud Yoko-wannabe took it to get Lagann into a spot where the cannons can't hit it."

"I need it." His will to cooperate was now degrading even further by the man holding him up by his cloak. But, there was still some goodwill left, so Viral stuck to inquiring further.

"Why?"

"Because Louise needs my help." Hm. Was that a hot girl he'd met in Halkegenia? Had he gotten over Yoko a long time ago? Better ask before punching his face to pieces.

"Who the hell is Louise?"

"My partner." Too vague to end the conversation with a knuckle sandwich. Maybe taking a different line of questioning would yield better results.

"And how do you know she needs your help?"

"Her explosions were too big. They were not hers." Hold on…explosions? Was this girl a mage? This…this might finally be what he'd been waiting for.

"Don't tell me…did you end up here because of the Summon Familiar spell?"

"Yeah, so what? Louise still needs my help, so get me back my damn drill!" He had all the answers he needed. He nodded, making Kamina let him go back to the controls. Survivors be damned, right now, this Louise girl needed rescuing.

"Alright, let's go. Don't bother waiting for the drill."

"The hell are you talking about?" Ah, it seemed like he didn't know where he was. After all, only Viral knew what rested behind the door opened by the big red button. Even the kids that guy brought back didn't know, and they'd been in this fortress for a while now, resting in the living quarters. The only thing you could see, after all, was the red hatch he'd added on when he rebuilt this hunk of junk with Leeron *shiver*. Upon activating the Ganmen, he watched the lights outside surge on with a grin, illuminating the huge underground space around them, with the added bonus of eliciting a gasp from Kamina, who finally realized just what he was standing in. It was now that Viral (almost redundantly) gave him the answer he craved just a second ago.

"You don't need Lagann. Because we'll be bringing out the **big guns** for this one."

Meanwhile, a few miles south, where a chain of mountains made its way north into a certain forest, on its smallest peak, a line of silhouettes appeared. They came from the Tristanian capital, and at the very front, on a pure white unicorn, sat its princess, lost in her thoughts as she stared at the once beautiful countryside. She'd received a letter from the mission she'd sent to Albion that the army of Reconquista would invade the very next day and strike at Tarbes, so the captain of the Griffon Knights asked her to dispatch their fleet in response. She did as he asked, trusting his judgement, but after those bright flashes, the airships of Tristain had completely vanished, as if they never existed in the first place.

Which posed a huge problem for her small country; those ships were the strongest weapon they possessed. Half their army had been used just to man them, and now that manpower was gone, too. All they had left were about two thousand men, with equipment that was, to be optimistic, functional, and they, like the two generals that accompanied her to the warzone, shared her expression of being utterly lost. Gulping, she surveyed the land she'd visited about a while ago on the day of mourning the King's death. It used to be so lush, green and full of life; she remembered that field of flowers so vividly in its cheerful colours, she couldn't help being lifted out of her slump slightly.

Now all that was left of it was a dark brown stain on the once fertile soil. Wherever she turned her gaze to, she saw nothing but fire and ash. And Henrietta's hopelessness was not aided by the fact her soon-to-be husband, the Emperor of Germania, had replied to her impromptu plea for help against this invasion by sending her messenger back with the answer that even if he did mobilize his vassals' armies as quickly as possible, there was no way they'd be there in time to save Tarbes – not that he was in a rush anyway. It was just a small village, far away from the capital or the Academy for Magic, why would anyone care to save it? Much easier to let it be destroyed and rebuild it after the fact. Perhaps that would've been better than essentially offering herself up to the enemy on a silver platter.

"Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

Turning around, she realized. Nothing her father ever taught her could prepare her for the despairing faces of her countrymen. No words came to mind to rally them together. No hope to lift their spirits. Nothing. All she could do was stare at them.

"Your Majesty?"

Henrietta gave up. There was nothing she could do or say that could improve this situation for her country whatsoever. Glancing over her shoulder at the destroyed village, she went to order the retreat. Her fiancé was right. It was silly for her to come here in the first place.

"General Gramont, sound the retr-"

The ground began shaking. As if the earth itself was angered by her cowardice, it rumbled from deep within, like a beast's feral growl. Hearing the blonde general yell and point to the mountains to the north, the princess turned to look, and her eyes widened as it split apart at its base.

 **[Play the song. You know the one. The "Baf baf" one. 2:27. Enjoy.]**

A huge sword erupted from the ground, a huge, silver-framed red sword, shooting toward the heavens, uprooting half the forest around the mountain. Rocks, trees, anything in its path was pushed aside by this behemoth surging upward. It took off, high into the air, higher almost than the Albionese fleet, before the red blade came crashing back down toward the earth. Everyone prepared for the blast that was to follow. It never came. In fact, this monstrous figure seemed to laugh at them as it kept itself afloat in mid-air, and it was only now that one could even see its whole body.

This giant was not in fact a sword, but a ship. An airship, fashioned entirely of metal, with what looked like a human body attached to the quarter deck. There were even arms dangling from its side, with hands that made the cannons lining its keel and main deck, which themselves were at least thrice as big as the most modern cannon in all of Halkegenia, look like toys. Right next to the hands were its feet, hanging from very short legs. Those feet were larger even than its hands, almost as if…what were those, shoes? All its limbs were coloured differently than everything else, in a deep black, contrary to the lively crimson and occasional yellow parts that covered most of its hull. The cream on top of this ice cream void, however, was the fact that on top of the "torso", which itself was a face due to the many yellow-tinted windows, was a head. Or rather, a helmet, a red and silver helmet, from beneath which a yellow glow pierced through everyone that dared to look at it.

But what was more terrifying than anything, was the fact that this airship was so immensely huge that it eclipsed the sun, throwing a shadow on even Henrietta and her army, who were miles away. Meaning that this ship wasn't simply larger than those Albionese ships, it utterly _dwarfed_ them. Adding to all of this was Henrietta recognizing a few similarities between it and the Bust of Destruction, which served to raise an even more frightening question: if who or what created the Bust could create _this_ , just what other unimaginable weaponry could spring from its hands? She shuddered to think about it. The only thing that kept her from running for the hills immediately was a familiar voice blaring through the air. And on top of a wooden dragon head, far to the west, a girl who had sunk into a great abyss suddenly felt a little warmer, as if a small candlelight had been ignited by this voice.

" **LOUISE!"**

 **So…the climax of the arc is drawing ever closer…how will it end, I wonder? Seriously, how the hell will this shit end? I have as much a clue as you do. Please, send help, a lunatic keeps on taking over my body and writing chapters for your enjoyment, I have no means of defending against it. Oh shit, here he comes again! We never spoke, okay? Bye!**


	24. Chapter 24

**This chapter. Holy fuck. You have no idea how long I've been fiddling with the nitty gritties on this one. I need a drink. And a review answering session. It's purely therapeutic, trust me.**

 **Phoenixash: What haters? I have no idea what you're talking about. I will try to keep up that good work, don't worry about that. Still gonna get that drink though. Want some? Would be a good trade for your moral support.**

 **Gamma Cavy: Thanks for the praise, and I'll be honest, your review is nowhere near as tangled as the crap I'm posting here. No need to apologize whatsoever on your end. No need to thank me too: the only thing I'm getting out of this is personal gratification, after all. I could argue that I'm doing this purely for myself in the first place. Still, thank you for those kind words. They made this chapter easier to write. Want Phoenixash's drink if he doesn't drink the pint?**

 **Anyways, let's skip to the good part.**

„Sir, we have sighted a giant metal airship to the east!"

"Limit your reports to useful information unless you want to lose your tongue." Wardes answered, staring at the colossal red ship turning in their direction. Its appearance had caught him off-guard – there was nothing, _nothing_ that could've made him believe that he should plan for such a ridiculous situation. And yet, there it was, a ship the size of a mountain, drifting toward his fleet in mid-air. His desire to get those choirmen to do something productive grew much more urgent at this absurd but incredibly pressing sight. He knew that Louise had expended a huge amount of willpower, possibly even most of it, through those explosions, so putting another burden on her would be irresponsible from him. A husband has to care for his wife, after all, he thought as they flew onto deck from their perch.

Striding toward the thirty-odd men in robes, he grimaced. They looked incredibly fearful for clergymen that had the reincarnation of the Founder on their side, and dared to actually fall to their knees and pray to this metallic behemoth as if it were their god. How pathetic. Drawing his sword, Wardes created an air current that effectively choked a choirman that had been prostrating and muttering that he'd be completely submissive to it if it left him alive. The captain glared at him as the man slowly floated into the air, grabbing his throat, trying to free it from his superior's grasp, but to no avail. All he could do was stare into Wardes' chilling gaze as he spoke.

"If you have time to beg for mercy, you have time to fight. Have I made myself clear?" Another man made the mistake of arguing with him in response.

"But Sir, how are we supposed to fight that thing?! It has to be an incarnation of the Founder's fury, no doubt ab –" He never got to finish his sentence as the muscles in his tongue, together with every other muscle in his body were forcefully stopped by lightning springing from Wardes' rapier, who had very little intention of holding back at this point. If someone had to die here to create order on his ship, so be it. The cleric who'd been held up in the air dropped to the ground, taking deep breaths in an attempt to fill up his shrivelling lungs. The rest of them just watched, scared out of their wits of this ruthless captain of theirs. His expression was one of pure rage, as if they had somehow managed to hit his most sensitive of nerves. Next thing the now mute man knew, he was the one being choked, any pleas for mercy he tried to muster devolving from his long, heartfelt citations of the Founder's codex in his head to primitive, pitiful gargles from his mouth.

" **Have I made myself clear?"** Wardes asked again, this time providing an even more convincing argument by holding his victim over the deck's edge. When the gargling became ever more desperate, he sighed, and let him fall. As the cleric went to cry for his life, he was pulled and held up again, though this time, he had the "pleasure" of his life flashing before his watering eyes. In his pitiable, broken state, he stayed completely silent. Perfect, Wardes thought as he dropped him back on deck. A soldier is a tool for the commander. And good tools don't argue. They shut up and do as they are told. "Man the cannons and turn the ship. We'll give them a nice broadside of lead."

"S-sir!"

The rest of the choir dispersed quickly, stumbling over the namesake of "man of the cloth" quite a few times before reaching their positions, except for the one he'd just gotten done with fixing. He just sat there, staring into the sky, twitching, his horribly contorted face stained by the make-up mucked up by his tears. The commander was willing to give this tool one last chance. "Get up, soldier." No response. Well, if a tool is broken, better dispose of it and get new ones. After tossing him off the ship, Wardes called the quartermaster, ignoring the cries below. "Tell our ground forces to immediately retreat and ready the artillery in La Rochelle." The man seemed perplexed.

"Sir, weren't we supposed to ready the cannons?"

"Correct. That was under the assumption that we needed to fight. But take another look." He said, pointing at the floating fortress headed their way. The man couldn't grasp what was so non-threatening about a giant red airship that looked like a man with a huge boner…alright, maybe that wasn't so scary after all. But considering the fact that it yelled out the name of Wardes' wife…oh no. The poor kid. She'd be torn in two if it tried to put it inside her. Somewhere, in some far away corner of his cynical soul, the soldier felt some sort of pity for the girl. Stuck between a monster and a hard-on. Although, since Wardes wanted to flee, maybe somewhere inside him was a good man; putting his wife's life before the conquest, even defying Cromwell in doing so. "It moves barely half as fast as our fleet. We can easily retreat to set up a crossfire onto it in La Rochelle."

"O-oh, right."

"Why so surprised?"

"N-no reason, sir. Excuse me, sir." The quartermaster ended their conversation before the captain could put a hole in his chest and headed for the horn at the stern. It was as big as an adult, and trying to elicit a sound from it was quite a challenge, one that marked the end of training for a recruit of the Albionese Navy. So the soldier pressed his lips onto the mouthpiece after taking a deep breath of air, and blew with all his might. A loud, reverberating noise echoed throughout the valley of Tarbes, and for a minute, all the sounds of battle ceased. No cannon fire, no clashing metal, not even a hint of human voices. Just dead silence.

"Why are those idiots up there sounding the retreat?"

"What, are you gonna run away, Nail?"

"Pfft. You'd like that, wouldn't you? Just look at you." Guiche felt like a child who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The man may not have been talking to him, but there was no denying what he was hoping for: for Nail to leave. Marteau had taken many blows over the course of the short battle, and his red jacket was torn in many places. And though it didn't look much different, the noble knew it had to be drenched in blood. No matter what the chef did, his brother seemingly could read his mind and move precisely to sneak in a hit, dancing on the edge of not touching Marteau's fist. To add insult to injury, Nail had now begun scraping his weapon along the ground before each of his attacks, and relentlessly shoved them into his brother's wounds, burning them shut, but filling them with cinders too. And they did not fail their purpose. "You look like you can barely stand, much less fight."

"All those years of peace must've softened me up." Was the chef's best retort as he fell to his knees.

"Please, being a rude bastard is my shtick. So stop insulting me and actually fight back. It's like you're not even trying." Wait, Marteau wasn't…but why? Was it a misjudgement on Nail's end? No, it couldn't be, he was the chef's brother, he would know when he was not fighting with all his might better than anyone. More importantly, this was a battle of life and death! What could possibly be going on in Marteau's mind to prevent him from going all out? Was it because he was fighting his brother? That was no reason to die! Guiche went to speak his mind when the chef himself stopped him in his tracks.

"Nail. I've known you my entire life. I'm your brother, in soul and blood. Of course I can't fight you. Because no matter what, I will always love you. If you need to take my happiness to become happy, so be it." The noble couldn't bring out anything. All he did was fall apart by curling up into a ball, trying to hold himself back from crying. If Marteau was willing to die for his brother, what right did Guiche have to oppose him? After all, he was nothing to the chef, just another whiny brat. He may as well be trying to reason with barbarians, and they might just listen if they got a ransom out of it. Before dying stupidly upon realizing that there was no way the Gramont family's guards would let them get away. But there was a chance they'd listen at the very least, if they were dumb enough. Here, common sense told him to give up. Marteau would die, and he'd be rid of a whole load of trouble; being seen around a criminal is not noble, and fraternizing with one even less so. Also, he could drop the whole "being their shield" thing – it was silly, childish, and would be a lot more effort than it's worth. Besides, he needed to apologize to Montmorency for cheating on her.

"Then what will it take? What will it take for the great Hammerarm to have a proper fucking duel with me?" There was a brief, yet noticeable pause before the criminal got his answer.

"…nothing. Just get it over with."

"How about this? For every minute you don't get up and fight, I kill one of them." He gestured toward the men surrounding them. "They may be my men now, but they used to serve you. And the mighty Hammerarm would never let his crew die, right?" There was no response, only Marteau's eyes finding themselves drawn to the soil. "Nothing, huh? What about him?" Guiche felt the familiar heat of a pointed piece of hellish metal pointed his way. "What if I shoved this spear right through his pathetic little heart?"

"If you did that, Nail, I still wouldn't fight you." A single tear ran down Guiche's face as his suspicions were confirmed. The man he hoped to one day call his friend would die here, and with him, the plank to the side he so desperately wanted to see would burn. It would turn to ash on Nail's spear, gone forever. And there was nothing he could do about it. He may as well accept his own death as well. He never should have come here in the first place; now he regretted those thoughts of returning to the Academy too. The teen never would be able to. All his hopes, even those cowardly ones of fleeing, dashed to bits by a single man. The rage reared its ugly head once more. This unyielding, spiteful hatred toward Nail. Guiche may not have the willpower to get out of this hell, but damn it if he wouldn't keep this bastard down here with him! Reaching for the wand he'd miraculously held onto whilst being charged against the wall, his mind pieced the incantation for creating a sword together through the blackness.

" **You'd be dead where you stand."** He felt the hot metal pierce his chest once more before even processing Marteau's words. Guiche even didn't get to hear his voice again before fading away into the dark. All the man could do was stare. Stare at the limp body of the blonde, getting pushed off of Nail's spear like you would scrape off rust off it.

"Well, he's not getting up from that, and from what I can tell, neither will you."

"Nail..."

"I told you. I'll only ever be happy if I fight you and win. And I'll do whatever it takes to do it. Besides…" After walking toward him, Nail lowered his head to Marteau's level and gave him a joyous grin. "Seeing you so broken, I can't help but smile. Just how much of your happiness was tied to this kid?" The chef's jacket seemed to stretch upon hearing that, as if all of his muscles grew in size. And judging from his fist pounding the ground once, hard enough to cause a cloud of ash to rocket upward, he was completely and utterly **pissed**.

" **He's no kid. Guiche is more of a man than you could ever hope to be."**

"Oh? So you will actually fight now? Fina-" Nail couldn't finish his sentence without biting the dust as his face scraped along the ground, the mark of Marteau's arm still imprinted on his cheek. He was absolutely furious. His hair hid his eyes, but there was no doubt for anyone present as to what kind of look was in them. There was no holding back anymore. Earlier, Nail was the only one truly giving in to his bloodlust – now, his brother joined him, and arguably sunk even deeper into it. As he shook the new blood off his arm, Marteau decided to speak to his brother one last time.

"Now I understand you. And how wrong you are. You think ´happiness´ is like food or money. Not everyone can have it." The only response he got was a disgruntled groan as Nail tried to stand back up, but failed. "But a germanian girl once told me something rather wise. _"Jeder ist seines Glückes Schmied."_ " The criminal realized that he was missing a tooth as he spat out the blood flowing from the place it used to be in. "Happiness comes from within. Someone has to create happiness for you to steal it. But you never did that. You always destroyed it." He finally managed to pull himself together enough to stare up at Marteau towering over him, cracking his knuckles. "Nail. You were never happy. And you never will be."

"S-so you're telling me I've let down Father?! Is that it?!"

"Yes. You've given in to jealousy and spite, because you were never able to be happy for yourself. You're a pitiful man." Nail was picked up by his collar and held up to face his brother. "I will end your misery. Because, Nail…I still love you." Even in his rampage, Marteau spoke those words softly, as if he were putting his little brother to sleep after a goodnight story. Yet his expression showed nothing but fury.

"Well, you still have to kill me!" He spat back together with a mouthful of blood, leaving the chef blind and causing him to let go of Nail. His landing caused a stir in the dust to whirl up enough of it to obscure both of their vision. Regardless, he raised his spear to put an end to this, once and for all. No one would stand in the way of his happiness any longer! The spear, still hot despite the air being a lot cooler, neared the chef's chest, eager to scorch its way through it like it had done with his little friend earlier. And sure, Marteau's fist was headed for his face, but there was no possible way it'd reach him before he made Gallian cheese out of his brother. "Die!" Nail yelled as the steel closed in on the silhouette against the cloud of ash, a moment before it would make contact.

A moment passed.

Then another.

Yet another.

Who was that and what was he doing with his spear?

Whilst Nail's mouth was still agape from the now vanished figure, the fist hit his face, breaking his nose and shattering the last of his front teeth. "H-how did you-" The clouds cleared, and everyone remained silent as the scene presented itself before them. Nail had Marteau's fist in his face, pushing his broken nose into his skull, whilst Nail's spear…

"You missed." It just barely went by the chef's heart, piercing his blood-soaked jacket. The man dropped to his knees, holding his broken nose to stop the bleeding, but the chef had no mercy left. He immediately kicked him upside the head to knock him on his back then mounted him. "Tell Father I said thank you." Putting his hands together, Marteau lifted them into the air, and, through the man's screams, smashed his head in. "I'm sorry, Nail. I'd hoped this would go by quicker." He said upon hearing coarse breaths from the disfigured body that used to be his brother, got up and grabbed hold of Nail's spear. "But at least, like this, I get to use your old joke again, one last time." Suddenly, Nail seized up, and Marteau swore to see an inkling of a smile on his horrid splatter of a face. "This'll be the last nail in your coffin." He spoke, shoving the spear right through his heart. And he swore to have heard two voices, one below him, one from the air around him chuckling as Nail breathed his last.

He stood there for quite a while, over his former brother's corpse. He gave him the best burial he could, the only one he could give him. Marteau set fire to Nail's spear before walking over to the blonde noble. Once the fires of the weapon hit the body, it would turn to ash, and ease the minds of many affected by his years of rampaging. His brother's men nodded at him as he passed by them, their sign that they accepted him as their leader once. Some of them he recognized from his days of youth, and they in particular seemed rather wound up, shaking in their boots. Whether from fear, anger or joy he didn't know nor bother to find out. He needed to find out whether Guiche was alright, though that hope was silly in all honesty.

The teen's chest had two holes in it, right next to each other, both blackened by the cinders that used to be a home to someone. Marteau cradled his face in his arms, and pushed aside some of his hair to get a good look at Guiche's face. He looked incredibly distraught, completely unbefitting of his usually flamboyant attitude. Even corpses looked more peaceful than he did. The chef distinctly remembered something Colbert mentioned in passing – people that are dying actually feel a semblance of happiness, as if their body was trying to make it easier on them. But if that was the case…Marteau held his ear closer to the noble's mouth.

It was there, barely. Breathing.

"One of you, fetch me a water mage! The bugger's still alive, and I'm not about to let him die!" He yelled at his men, who were shocked at his outburst, yet also confused as to where they should get a water mage from. There was no mage among them, nor did they know of any close by, they were all commoners after all and mercenaries at that. The noble was doomed. One could tell that just by looking at him, he was getting paler by the second. Besides, it's not like they could just pull water magic out of their ass to heal him.

"Marteau? What is-" A familiar voice began speaking, before abruptly stopping in her tracks as she saw the scene. A noble, dead in her boss' arms. Ohfounderohfounderohfounder. This was just like one of the stories her mother told her! Except it didn't involve a queen and her female servant, but instead two men. Which was even more scandalous! She had to be daydreaming, that's it. Yes, definitely. Marteau was not kneeling on the ground with the corpse of Sir Gramont, nope, definitely not. And he also wasn't surrounded by many shady looking men that carried themselves like they were Archie, except their bulk made them look actually threatening. So if this was a daydream, all she had to do was close her eyes, and open them again, and Marteau would be standing right in front of her now with Sir Gramont cradled in his arms.

"Siesta, have you seen a water mage anywhere? He's dying." Shocked, all she could do was blink, still holding on to that measly hope of all this being a dream. Upon multiple attempts to pull herself back together and to reality, she accepted that she had never been whisked away in the first place. A furry sensation on her leg snapped her back into an active state, and she had her boss set the noble down immediately as she removed her bag from her shoulder. Meanwhile, Archie finally caught up to her, completely out of breath, leaning on the ruined stone wall that Guiche had been pinned against earlier. Marteau ignored him, as he was neither threat nor support and besides, his attention was completely on the dying teen, whose breath grew ever shallower. Then his vision was blocked by a familiar dog.

" _There, there, bud."_ He whispered, petting his head, when the chef noticed something. The black snout of Chaplin had turned brown, as if he'd been bleeding, and the red trail led to his eyes. It was hard to see, but their colour was also a little lighter than before and there was a tiny slit on his eyelid whenever he blinked. Had someone cut his eyes? But then, how did it heal that quickly – wait, why was Siesta fumbling around with her bag?

" _Let's hope this works…"_ Marteau heard her mutter before she pulled out a small flask, one they used for sauces at the Academy, and upon opening it, the maid pinched Guiche's cheeks with one finger each to pry his mouth open before beginning to pour the white liquid down his throat. With every gulp, his skin recovered a little of its colour, and the holes in his chest began to shrink, bit by bit. Ever so slightly, the corpse of Guiche de Gramont came back to life. The ruin inflicted on him by Nail left its mark deeply embedded in his body, yet it too shrank to an almost unnoticeable size after a few flasks. It took a good five minutes of treatment for the fatal wounds to vanish, but even then, he remained dormant. "Miss Vallière told me that after drinking a potion, the injured would need some rest. Can you carry him, Marteau?"

"Of course. But you'll be telling me later where you got those potions."

"Oh, I have more in case we need them! So here!" She held out another three flasks for him to drink in an almost cheerful manner. "You look like you just faced the Founder himself. Better be safe than sorry!"

"No, I'm fine. Besides, I have to carry Guiche to the rendezvous." Immediately upon seeing Siesta's expression, he knew he should've chosen a less wordy phrasing.

"Wh-wh-wha…!? Rendezvous?! You two?!"

"Rendezvous as in the place where Miss Tabitha picks us up." Despite his efforts, the red colour on her face persisted, together with some probably unsavoury thoughts. Her friend also seemed completely frozen at the implications, almost causing Marteau to let out a snicker, were it not for his men doing the same behind his back, the dirty bastards.

"Oh, I-I see." Better to just endure it for now, they had to get out of here.

"Come on. We haven't got all day, Siesta. There are people who need those drinks way more than I do." He told her, pushing her toward the spot he'd left her parents and the other survivors, followed by his still mirthful men. Grumbling, he pushed her past Archie, only to find that the man was still paralysed. Exasperated, he stopped, grabbed the man's arm, pulled him in front, and pushed the two fantasizing idiots in tandem. His men would deal with any fools trying to attack them. As it turned out, there were barely any soldiers, well, "soldiers" in their way – Nail appeared to have been right on the money when he said that they were sounding the retreat. However, once they exited the ruins of the village, they saw why. The giant airship made all of them question their senses; only Marteau and Siesta knew this was truly reality, and that they hadn't imagined Kamina yelling earlier. Only he could pull a stunt like this to force the Albionese fleet to retreat.

"Dear? Is that you?"

"Mum? Mum!" The girl in question exclaimed upon seeing her mother emerge from behind a heap of rocks that looked vaguely like the remains of Ol' Cranky's barn. Everyone had called him insane for building a barn out of stone, rightly so, after all, it may keep wolves out, but what if it fell on top of the poor piglets it was meant to protect? His answer back then was something along the lines of _"Better help me get it nice and stable then, whippersnappers!"_ Turns out, those wolves never got to his pigs again, but as for Reconquista's army…they were less intimidated by the stone, it seemed, and blew it down without a care. Deciding that trailing further down that train of thought would only bring her further sadness at the probable fate of Ol' Cranky, Siesta instead melted into her mother's arms, doing her best not to let her feelings get the better of her right then and there. They were not out of the woods yet.

…she had to admit, there were better ways to put that, considering where they were trying to go.

"Dear, you better hurry. Dad's not well." A sudden surge of determination made the welling emotions fade for now. She immediately followed her mother to the other survivors, who were busy being awestruck at the sight of the gigantic behemoth in the sky. Some were saying it was the Founder come to rescue them from this hell, others said it was time for the Reckoning – Brimir's return to Halkegenia to purge the sinners from his world. Yet others thought it to be a secret weapon the royal family had in store for such a situation, and finally, there were those claiming that it was the beginning of an elven invasion, because that would be the greatest drop to make their barrel of suffering burst, the ultimate punishment of the Founder for their greatest of sins: sex before marriage.

Ignoring those murmurs, Siesta was led toward a man lying in a small patch of grass all by himself, who looked like he'd been to Hell and back. His body was not as horribly battered by the flames, but it was obvious he'd been utterly reckless about whatever he was doing in Tarbes. His clothes were completely tattered and blackened, and through the gaps seeped the putrid smell of burnt hair. She nearly gagged when holding his head close to her chest whilst pulling out one of the many remaining potions, and making him drink it, the smell was that pungent. One turned out to not be quite enough; he still sounded and looked to be in pain. So another few flasks went down his throat before he settled down, and appeared to now be sound asleep.

The scene of Siesta feeding him a bottle of what looked like (and partly was) milk stunned her mother and everyone that somehow tore their eyes away from the giant heaven-piercing mecha into complete silence. Even Archie couldn't believe what he was seeing. _"Like a mother feeding her child."_ Then his mind promptly made the leap to breast-feeding and his child-like wonder turned to stoic embarrassment. The survivors that saw it immediately asked her to heal their own wounded friends and/or family, calling her names like "Saint Siesta", which only served to embarrass the poor girl, who looked to her boss and mother for help, only to be treated to the sight of two equally proud, yet still so very teasing grins that sent their message clearly.

" _You got yourself into this mess, now you have to deal with the consequences."_

Desperately, she shot Archie a look, who had somewhat recovered from his forced stoicism, but even he abandoned her in her time of need, instead taking to petting his dog. It was his way of saying:

" _I'm not the guy for this kind of job. This is on you."_

And so Siesta had to go around handling these terrified, hopeful neighbours hadn't talked to in years treating her like a reincarnation of the Founder himself, healing the wounds He had inflicted on them for their greatest of sins: sex after marriage. Thankfully, she had had the foresight of making two dozen flasks of Miss Vallière's potion, so there was enough to ease everyone's suffering. After all was said and done, she groaned at having to pack all these empty flasks back into her bag to leave no trail. Once she was done with that, she now had the pleasure of explaining to her mother and Marteau just where she l got those healing potions.

Suffice to say, those listening were impressed when they heard she'd learned the recipe right before an event as great as a ball with a royal attendee, from the Princess' cousin no less! What was even more mind-boggling was her dedication to learning this craft: she'd gotten very little sleep in favour of brewing the batch of potions that was now gone in the morning before they set out to Tarbes, which included her collecting all ingredients by hand earlier that same night. "Certainly explains why I had to drag you out of bed that day." After letting everyone share a laugh at her expense, the teasing chef gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you. Expect a feast once we get back to work." Her red face only got redder, but her mother, much to her own dismay, had to break her out of that embarrassment to ask a pressing question: why?

"What brought this on, dear? You always wanted to live in peace, so why do something as risky as asking a noble to teach you their craft?" The girl had a flashback to the horrible things she'd seen, she'd done and caused. Those horrid abominations that slaughtered so many because of her. Once she had met Archie face-to-face, had fully processed the reality and consequence of her actions, she had made a choice. It was only solidified when Archie told her of the men's deeds, who they were, what they fought, no, _lived_ for.

"I want to help people. Just like the Knights of Undine. Just like Sa-." During her brave declaration, something interrupted her. A shadow shot over them, and after they were able to see again from a gust of air forcing their eyes shut, they found that a giant blue dragon had appeared before them. A familiar noble sat on its back, patting the space behind her for the next few people to get on. At this point, those lucid just wanted to get to safety as fast as possible – since it'd taken the noble quite a while to get back and there were a lot more people present than before, it was decided that the now sleeping survivors were to be flown out of here, while the others would walk through the forest, after all, they now had armed guards to protect them. Unfortunately, Sylphid only had so many ways to carry people safely, so two of the recovering had to be brought over by someone else.

"Guess this is my job, eh?" Marteau said, heaving Guiche and what was technically still his host up onto his shoulders. Grunting a little, he then gave them an okay signal; he would hold up for the trip. The dragon taking off was their cue to leave – the group took off toward the forest, trampling the pitiful remains of a beautiful meadow beneath their weary, hasty steps and turning it to dust. Nothing was left of the smell that all but invaded your nostrils had you gone there a day earlier. The only thing in the air was the repulsive smell of lead and fire. But not even that little amount of closure was granted to them: they'd all been in that hell so long that the smoke and ashes had blocked their noses from registering anything but a burning sensation that caused them severe headaches and rough throats.

Counting their blessings, they'd gotten about six so far, in the form of Siesta's miraculous salvation she brought them in form of healing potions, and now, the group added one more to the list upon arriving at the forest's edge without a hitch. They ran on for another five minutes before deciding to quit it for now – they'd gotten far enough away from the chaos to give themselves a breather, so a few of Marteau's men made fun of their leader since he was now so out of breath already. They joked about him being an old fart that needed to let the new generation into the spotlight for having so little stamina. Obviously kidding around, they added how he'd lift barrels of mead twice his size on both shoulders and still be able to keep a full sprint going for three miles when he was younger; after groaning, his retort was a somewhat forced out "Don't give me that crap, ya twats. I've had a long time to soften up. Give me a month or two and I'll make it five."

…they _were_ kidding around, right?

"Boss. I know you didn't want us to, but we went through his stuff." One of them spoke after they'd had their fun. The chef's expression hardened.

"Nail's?"

"Yep. And we found something important."

"Stop wasting time and show it to me, then!" A battle plan was unfolded before his eyes, and he clearly saw three black arrows pointing from La Rochelle, the base camp for the invasion, deep into Tristain. One went through Tarbes, another went around it over the south route, closer to the Gallian border, and the last went right around the edge of the forest, and then headed north of the mountains. They all converged on the Tristanian capital. He had to admit, it was a solid plan to divide your forces. Nail probably got a copy because he was the leader of such a fearsome band of mercenaries and probably was held in higher regard than the common soldier or officer – someone to make that ragtag "bond" (if it could even be called that) between the people last long enough to march into the capital. "Alright, I see. But what is so important about their strategy?"

"Remember how they sounded the retreat?"

He immediately stopped in his tracks, as did everyone that saw him do so. A cold sweat formed on his forehead as he became a lot more wary of his surroundings.

"So you're telling me we might be running right into an army as big as the one that tore up Tarbes?" Upon seeing the nod, Marteau instantly ordered everyone to get into the underbrush for cover. After explaining the situation to the others, they counted their curses, and added one more to the immeasurable pile that befell them that day. And it was at this point that Marteau looked to his men for help. Sneaking around was not his specialty, even less so in the state he was in. In order to avoid the enemy, they'd need a scout, someone that would be able to dupe a thousand, maybe many more, and find a route to the cave. His eyes fell on a certain young man who'd been biting his lips in thought. "You." The man in question looked around, then pointed a finger at himself, mouthing _"Me?"_.

"Yes, you. You've been at the cave once, right?"

"Yep. What of it?"

"Can you scout out a route for us?" Funnily enough, even when presented with this absurd, nigh impossible task, he just crossed his arms, and replied with a nearly identical tone.

"The question is not if I can, it's whether I can do it before they get here. If they come from the mountains, they'll probably try to go south through the forest to take a gander at their mates' bonfire." A raised eyebrow, and several agape mouths, either from shock at the new danger or confusion at his confidence in dealing with it.

"Why would they go back?"

"Sightseeing, obviously. I mean, what else would a greedy and horny horde do in a village that's been burnt to the ground?" Annoyed, Marteau demanded an answer.

"I don't like your tone there, bucko. Now will you scout or not?"

"'Course I'll do it, no one else can. I'll be back." And as if he was the wind, with a light fluttering of leaves, he disappeared into the bush with Chaplin in tow. Marteau just sighed. That man apparently didn't respect those soldiers at all, as if he could toy with them however he wished.

"Your friend is quite…interesting, dear." Siesta was told by her mother. She replied that he was usually a lot nicer than that, and immediately, both her boss and mother shared the same grin. "So, where's the ring?" Confused, the girl repeated after them, trying to get some clarification.

"What ring?" It quickly dawned on her. "Mum!" How this woman managed to create such a joyful moment out of nothing in this situation was beyond the chef – not that he cared a lot about it, he much preferred getting swept up by it and taking a load off of his mind. The three shared a nice conversation that the others listened to, and they occasionally chimed in, usually for another gag. All in order to keep their spirits higher than rock bottom. Eventually, Archie returned and reported to have found a way around the enemy that'd take not much longer than the direct route, but would mostly keep them out of sight. He did also warn it'd bring them closer to them than they might like, however Chaplin would warn them when they were close. And when he did, they'd better be extra careful, because he caught a glimpse of the army, and, well, the ground being more brown than green, even off the beaten path pretty much said it all. Being seen meant death. After everyone gathered the last of their wills, they set off, sticking to the ground as much as possible – only relying on the bushes for cover was foolish.

After a few minutes, Chaplin let out a soft bark, and the entire group collectively tensed up. From their left, voices rung through the trees, accompanied by uncountable footsteps. The horrifyingly careless sounds of death so close by made a few of the villagers tear up trying not to make a single sound of their own. All they had to communicate was the hand they'd placed on the person in front of them – like a silent centipede crawling through the dirt, they made their way forward. But, like the life of many insects went, a predator soon drew near.

"I'll be right back, just gotta take a piss over yonder."

"We all know yer goin' for a wank, just admit it."

"Piss off, ya wanker!"

"Takes one to know one!"

"Fuckwit." The soldier muttered quietly enough to not be heard by his friend, but it was loud enough to make the centipede's ears burst with tension. He was standing right next to a young girl, 9 at most, only separated by a single plant. Were it fall, the man would be staring right at her through the branches. Marteau recognized her – it was Mindy, the one who'd been rescued by Guiche earlier. As the soldier whipped out his dick, the kid already knew what was coming, yet no bracing could prepare her for the utter humiliation that followed. The warm piss dripped right onto her head, from her hair onto her face, then soaking her clothes. But nothing, _nothing_ was as humiliating as the fact that it washed her body and made the pain in her muscles and skin more bearable – she was feeling better because a stranger was pissing on her.

She felt better.

Because a stranger that'd murder her in a heartbeat.

Was pissing on her.

Any pride she had left, together with her spirit, cracked like an eggshell. The tears pooling in her eyes earlier now flooded down in streams, mixing with the yellow fluids to continuously soak her in puddles worth of her broken dignity. The man's satisfied grunt finally signalled the end of her torment.

"Greatest piss I've had in ages." With that, he headed off, and everyone was ready to relax after dodging that bullet. Then the girl sobbed. "What was that noise?" Now it was them nearly pissing themselves. Marteau reacted quickly, and moved his hand from her the girl's shoulder to her mouth to silence her, but the damage was already done. The soldier turned around, weapon drawn. The chef abandoned the hope of remaining unseen, and prepared to take the man down so fast he wouldn't get a chance to call for help. Right as said man went to push aside some leaves and eat a mouthful of Marteau's specialty, the Bloody Knuckle, a woodpecker made his presence known in the trees above them.

"Oi, you actually gone for a wank? Get a move on!"

"Fine, fine!" This time, he ran off for real, sheathing his weapon and joining the rest of the enemy. Having no idea what kind of guardian angel saved them, the villagers got ready to bare their souls at Him for judgement as He descended from the branches…oh, it was just Archie. When asked what he was doing up there, he told them there were better things to worry about. And to shut up some nosier customers, he said it was a trade secret. By the way he worded it, it didn't sound like a particularly honest trade. After the incident, Marteau offered the kid to carry her, something she gladly took him up on, gripping on to his chest like a toddler, held there by the chef's big, comforting pillow of a hand. Continuing on their path, there were no more incidents to hinder their crawl to their cave, and the centipede soon got another bark to inform them that they'd put a fair bit of distance between the army and them.

Finally. Now reinvigorated through this eighth blessing, the group sped up, only pushed forward faster by the slight breeze of a tailwind that came up suddenly. Their hopes rose as Archie declared that they were just a few minutes away from safety now, and they even rose a little from the ground, no longer having to tiptoe about, on their feet now. It was such a relief to take all that pressure off their toes that they collectively sighed. However, the war had one last curse to throw at them. When they heard voices, they expected them to be the other survivors, so a few of them stood up and rushed toward them, despite Archie and Siesta, knowing the cave was still a ways away trying to tell them not to go.

"Where the hell did these guys come from?!" It was the enemy. Cursing beneath his breath, Archie slapped himself as he realized that his dog couldn't possibly have smelled a possible rear guard because of the tailwind. He turned to face those that hadn't left – Marteau and his men, the girl he was holding as well as Siesta and her mother. He shot the men a look, and they in turn looked just as torn as him. They had no clue how big this rear guard was, and if they'd be able to call for help. It might just be safer to abandon those that'd stormed in, and continue forging forward, and Archie was inclined to make that call. Then he caught Marteau's gaze. He was determined to save those people; all he needed was Archie's "go ahead". They'd take them out quickly and move on to the cave. Mulling it over for a second, the cries of help then easily tipped his scales heavily in favour of saving the innocent idiots.

"Go ahead. Don't take too long."

"We won't." The second their leader spoke those words, his men became a lot more confident, and drew their weapons. Setting down the people he carried, even patting Mindy's head for comfort after letting her down, Marteau rose to his full height. Only his men recognized the expression on his face now that Guiche was unconscious. Pure, unadulterated bloodlust. **"LET'S GET 'EM, BOYS!"** A chorus of war cries erupted from the bushes as they all came charging out at once, completely overwhelming the hundred-odd men that were in the middle of their routine. Immediately, the reckless villagers ran back to safety, leaving the brawl to the specialists. And specialists they were, running over a part of the rear guard before they could even respond to their presence, despite their massive numbers disadvantage. **"EVERY ONE THAT YOU LET THROUGH WILL GET ONE OF YOU SCALLYWAGS KEELHAULED!"** Marteau yelled, and got another chorus of approving war cries in response.

"We should go." Archie told the returning villagers, who were all too happy to agree after that disaster. He explained that at least two of them should watch the sleeping men – Siesta and her mother volunteered. All he did in response was remind her of her promise to help him by tapping the pouch he kept the pendant in, something she couldn't possibly forget. Since their presence was already known, he abandoned the idea of stealth and told those following him to run for it, trusting the chef and his crew to deal with any pursuers. Mindy turned around one last time to look at the crazy looking and sounding gentleman who'd been so nice to her earlier before joining the others.

Siesta shot Marteau a look, who was going at it like he was having a round of boxing, demanding someone step up to take him down, and the response from any potential challenger was clearly rooted in fear; either they ran at him, trying to rid the world of this monster of a man, whilst others either went after the fleeing survivors or fled into all sorts of directions themselves. Some even tried to charge toward her and her mother, guessing correctly that there would be more people in the underbrush to exploit. Thankfully, Marteau had reserved a few men to specifically deal with anyone headed straight for them or the others; any soldier trying to flee from the fight toward the safety of civilians was forcefully dragged back into the brawl and got some honour beaten into their skull. Usually with the bonus of their nose, too. So all the girl and woman could really do was observe the battle with bated breath.

"Is there no one here that can take on Hammerarm?! Come on, I'm just getting warmed up!" The chef declared, up to his knees in unconscious bodies, before a single arrow hit his leg. Even as the two hiding in the bushes gasped, fearing for his life, he grunted, pulled it out, and snapped it in his hand. "Fight me hand to hand, coward!" He shouted at the terrified teen that had another arrow at the string, before running toward him, cracking his knuckles to give that boy the beating of his life for this disrespectful crap. In his horror, the teen pulled back the string, and let go, aiming straight at Marteau's head. It utterly missed its mark, and flew over everything, until…

 ***Thump***

It landed right beside Siesta, and the noise it made didn't sound like it ended up in the ground. Horrified, with wide eyes, she turned to look at her mother. A single piece of feathered wood stuck out of her chest, and her mother shared her expression as she stared down at the arrow. No blood had spilled yet, but once she keeled over and coughed up a flaskful, the hope she'd be fine was shattered. The girl knew now. Her mother would die if she didn't do something. Desperately, she clawed at her bag, and fished around for the life-saving flasks. With every empty one she yanked out, her mother coughed up another bit of life from her lungs. After having tossed aside all the empty flasks, she shoved her hand into her bag again…empty. There was nothing left.

"I-it's alright…dear. Don't…worry about me." Those words were futile as another mouthful of blood spilled onto the ground. The girl tried to speak, but words failed her. She couldn't even begin to apologize for her utter failure. She should've made more. She should've used less on the others. So many ways for her to potentially have had enough flasks to save her mother, yet to no avail. Tears streamed down her face. All she could do now was hold her mother in her arms. "D-dear…tell me…why did you…want to be like the Knights…of-" Gone was another mouthful of life before Siesta could muster the strength to attempt to speak.

"Because…"

"She met them." A voice came from beside her, and Archie came into her peripheral vision. Any other time, she'd have shrieked. But not now. Her eyes were solely focused on the dying woman, who smiled at his statement.

"D-did she…? How nice…" After another cough, she spoke again. "Their leader…is he alright…?"

"He's dead." This seemed to briefly shock the woman, but then the smile returned.

"I-I see…so the messenger…was not lying…S-Salvatore…is dead." Now it was the daughter's turn to be confused. How would her mother know the name of the man that died because of her? In contrast, Archie's eyes were wide as he put two and two together and got four instead of three, and reached into his pouch, producing a familiar bronze piece of metal. Her mother stared at it for a moment before water pooled in her eyes. "T-that pendant…open it." He obliged, and inside it were two pictures. A picture of Siesta's mother, holding a younger looking, sleeping Siesta, and on the other was Salvatore in all his glory, grinning like an idiot. "It feels…like y-yesterday-" Her breathing was so shallow it was barely audible. "That…Larive made that…" The next cough made it even shallower. "I…think you…should know…old…enough…" She said to her daughter.

"W-what is it, Mum?" She stuttered out between the sobs threatening to slip out of her throat, and a hand found itself to her face. She was already getting cold. What her mother said next was so ridiculous she thought to have misheard. "Mum, could you repeat that? You're too quiet." She felt terrible in asking her mother to burden herself on her deathbed, but she just needed confirmation of what she heard.

"Salvatore…was…your father…"

"No…no, that's impossible…" She whispered, to herself more than anything, but the pendant proved it beyond the shadow of a doubt.

"It's…been a while…darling…" The woman said, her eyes glazed over, hand moved from her daughter's cheek toward the heavens, as if she were grasping for someone's hand to pull her up to the Founder's Haven. "Goodbye…dear. Your father…and I…love…you…" She breathed her last, and Siesta just sat there, completely still.

"Mum…?" Siesta finally realized that her mother was dead, and, no longer able to hold the flood gates, burst into tears. Archie pitied her in her misery, and lifted a hand to comfort her. Instead of simply putting a hand on her shoulder as he'd hoped, however, she cut him off by all but jumping into his arms, face pressed against his chest, arms around him. He was frozen solid for a second, but somehow, he managed to return her gesture and wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her a little closer. Although he still couldn't bring out a single word, he could relate to her. He, too, had lost both parents in one fell swoop. Archie knew how it felt, so he kept this up, tuning out the sounds of battle on the other side of this bush. Chaplin did his part, too, and leaned on his owner's legs to snuggle against her. It was a nice distraction from that horrid smell of war still invading his nostrils. Then, out of the corner of his eye, the dog glimpsed something shooting across the sky, together with an odd noise as it passed by. Paying it little heed, he went back to cheering up the sobbing child.

Meanwhile, Wardes faced a tiny issue. Call it a miscalculation, if you will. There was a sword being held to his back by the quartermaster. Turns out his order to not enter Cromwell's cabin was ignored, and the man who had followed him inside had realized that his actual leader was not here. Fouquet, having finished her business, had already left the ship, with the body, it seemed. She even got rid of the pot she hid in. Back to the soldier, he demanded to know where his leader had disappeared to, and, sighing, the captain glanced at his sword. The only ones present were him, Louise and the defect tool. He would draw his weapon, but there was the chance his wife would get hurt, so he'd prefer using other means. His gaze drifted to the Ring of Andvari. That'd take care of things quietly, but then she'd be free of his control. He did have that sleeping spell at his disposal however, so that might be his best option. So he tried to direct the ring's power at the quartermaster, who would give in to its influence quickly, and at the same time, went for his rapier to put his wife to sleep.

Keyword being "tried". As he was standing at the window of Cromwell's cabin, he had full view of the pursuing behemoth, but something odd happened as he went to execute his idea. It held back its arm, and made a throwing motion, yet nothing seemed to be thrown. That proved to be false when a noise, constantly getting louder, reached his ears along with a small dot that was closing in on them at speeds way beyond their pursuer's. Wardes immediately pulled Louise into his arms and jumped away from the window. The soldier didn't have that foresight, so the only thing he could do was gape at the rapidly closing in projectile before it burst through the window. It was a red metal sphere, on which a hatch opened a second after impact, releasing smoke into the cabin. Since the captain had lost focus, Louise regained full consciousness, just in time to see the figure rising from the sphere, red cape billowing in the wind. The voice that cursed _"fuzzball"_ beneath his breath was familiar to her, in more ways than one.

"Who the hell are you?!" Wardes demanded to know, raising his sword at the man, who in return brandished his katana at him.

"Who we are? Heh!" The sword spoke, much to his surprise.

" **Whether it be in the air or soil, nothing escapes our fiery fury!"** Now the man chimed in.

" **Never letting up, always in pursuit of the future!"**

" **Tales of our courage reach far and wide!"**

" **To protect our bonds harder than steel!"**

" **I'm the mighty Derflinger!"  
"I'm the mighty Kamina!"**

A single tear shot down Louise's face as the face she longed for appeared in the smoke. The wind, the horribly cold wind, felt a little warmer now.

" **JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!"**

 **Not much I can really say without spoiling my schemes on the next chapters. Though, I could do this.**

 **LE EPIC PLOT TWIST REVEALS ITSELF! SALVATORE IS SIESTA'S FATHER OMG HOLY SHIT SUCH QUALITY MUCH WOW MANY REVIEW.**

 **That was entirely unnecessary. Gotta give it to doge, though, he gives good advice. Especially that bit about reviews. Gonna leave it at that. Bye!**


	25. Rewrite Alert

**Plot twist: this isn't chapter 25. This is just a stand-in to let you know that another chapter has been re-written. So far, the chapters 1, 2 and 3 have gone under the knife (or in this case, keyboard). Blame the disappointment on FFN not notifying people of chapters being updated.**


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